Lost and Found
by Melgirl12
Summary: The continuation of 'Birthday Present'. Picks up after the trio leave grimmland palace. Fremione galore, bits of lemon here and there, should continue on until the end of the war.
1. Chapter 1

**Lost and Found: Chapter one**

 **AN: This is the continuation of my last story, 'Birthday Present'. If you haven't read that, I guess you can go ahead and read this and understand, but I would really recommend going back to that one first. It has all of the same characters, same rating, everything.**

 **SO, if you came for fremione, but haven't read my last story. Go back to that.**

 **If you have read it, and just want more, thank you so much. I started a new portion to the story because I felt ending with their leaving for the hunt was appropriate, and that I would be in need of a different title for this part. Hope you all enjoy!**

* * *

She hadn't been thinking when she apparated them here. After being stuck in Grimland palace so long, anywhere outdoors had seemed like a good idea. It was also more likely for them to not be followed, and the first thing she'd thought of in her panic. But it was so painful to look at.

Painful enough for her brain not to register Ron's first scream. She turned to look at Harry, who was scanning the empty perimeter, and only then noticed the blood pouring from their friends shirt as he lie on the forest floor.

She fell next to him, and immediately began pulling things out of her bag, tearing his shirt away and pouring on half of dittany she'd packed. He continued yelling and his hand gripped her upper thigh, but she took no notice or care. Instead her mind was jumping from how to fix this, and how stupid she'd been to splinch him.

She hadn't pictured the clearing, apparition needed a clear image to work properly and she'd had the sight of Fred -standing in the dark, snow at his feet, and a broom by his hips- marring her view.

Now her friend was paying for it.

She had to walk out. Ron was flicking and unflicked that fucking deluminator and it was messing with her head. There was no way she'd tell him to stop though, with the necklace resting around his throat. He would either begin yelling, grit his teeth and ignore her, or say something purely nasty- and she did not have the head space for any of the three.

They had all consecutively decided that after what they had gone through to get ahold of the necklace, they shouldn't risk losing it before they figured out how to destroy it. Which had resulted in the three wearing it in shifts.

She hated to say it, because when Ron had it on, his homesickness only came out in anger, and Harry became snappy, but her favorite part of the day was handing it off to one of the boys.

The metal chain felt like an anchor attached to her neck. She couldn't focus on a single thing her friends were saying without drifting to the thought of her parents, to the students still at Hogwarts, to Fred. What was normally a slight nagging in the back of her head, was now a constant mountain of fear looming over her. Where day dreams of pumpkin pasties used to fill her time thinking, now was daytime nightmares of death eaters tearing through her unsuspecting parents' home in Australia. Images from her bedtime terrors, that had come after the night of Dumbledore's death, pressed into the back of her eyelids with each blink. Neville lying at her feet shaking from the torture of constant crusatuses, Luna hanging dead eyed over the arm of the old hags statue, Ginny neck twisted at an odd angle, Ron staring blankly at Harry's lifeless body, Fred face torn apart and looking up at the stormy ceiling of the great hall.

She kept quiet while the metal rested on her neck. Fearing more than anything what she would say if she didn't.

Ron wasn't like that. He voiced loudly how the food they had was practically inedible, and how he had no idea what his family was doing, if they were okay. It bothered her to say the least, but she couldn't blame him, when she had if on she always felt on edge, better he take it out through yelling than magic.

Harry kept mostly quiet while it was on, but the slightest thing might set him off. Hermione had learned that simply asking him to hand her a certain book might make him tear his hair out in frustration. But sometimes the necklace changed him in a completely different way, he would be fidgety and wouldn't let go of the map to save his life, insisting on checking it every few minutes. The boy who lived claimed it was for all their friends, but he and Ginny had had some sort of falling out the day of the wedding (she'd figured it out, and hadn't questioned him, he did it for her with Fred, and she felt she owed it to him not to pry) and the witch could tell who he was really intent on watching.

Right now he was on watch, and had in fact just began so she could read, but with the damned lights going on and off (though the deluminator didn't change her jug fires) it was maddening to try and pay any attention to her material. So the girl walked out as quiet as she could manage, levitating her jug along with her, and found Harry sitting on a fallen tree outside.

"He's doing it again?" Her best friend questioned as she took a seat next to him, but turned the other way.

"Yes," she hissed "Its driving me mad"

"Why do you think I offered to take first watch" he replied, and she glanced back at him. Harry's knuckles were white, and he was clearly gripping something in his palm.

"What have you got?"

He held up the snitch and she snorted.

"What?"

So she held up her own gift from Dumbledore and he laughed as well.

"We're all obsessed with them, and I'm not even sure they'll be of any use"

"He wouldn't have given them to us if they wouldn't help us." she whispered fingering one of the pages of " _Tales of Beatle and the Bard_ ". Though she was assuring Harry, Hermione wasn't quite sure herself. She'd read the book nearly 100 times over now and hadn't found anything.

* * *

His brother was insisting they stay open, regardless of the fact that they were only getting a handful of customers each day. Between Hogwarts stating up once more, and people being too scared to leave their homes their business had dropped like a dead cow. Still George claimed they had to stay open, meanwhile the bastard was taking every other day off.

"Please stay with me today mate" he begged one day "We're not designing products at the moment, you have the time."

"Can't, I'm going over to Angelina's" George had answered putting on his robe to leave.

"She can't come here" he snorted.

"She doesn't want to leave her parents alone" his twin murmured. Fred didn't let it get to him by now though, he'd done this everyday he had off.

Which left him there all day alone. Just him, an empty store, and his head.

The Weasley had found it was an awful combination.

All day he spent staring at the shelves. Their inventions stared down at him in his seat behind the register and instead of filling him with the same pride they once had, it seemed like they were mocking him. She'd told him more times than he could count that he was ingenious- that she admired him for everything he could do and it was nothing she'd ever be able to pull off.

But he couldn't find her.

That was what he spent _his_ days off on. Dozens of tracking potions, safety spells, and failed attempts at the silliest things left him shattered every time he tried something new. She'd even left a hairbrush here, which gave him all the DNA he would ever need to find her under normal circumstances, but her concealment spells were better than anything he'd ever be able to pull off to counter them. Fred knew they were Hermione's spells, neither Harry or his little brother would be able to make them strong enough, and she wasn't stupid enough to let them.

So on days he had to work, it was all he could think about. What he had done wrong the day before, and how he could do it better tomorrow.

When staring at the products began to get to him, the redhead would either get up to eat (Merlin knew how bad the Weasley family stress ate) or call Lupin.

His old professor had assured him a hundred times over that they had been in Grimmlund palace a month ago –alive- and had told him what they were doing, but wouldn't let him come with them. However he wouldn't tell Fred exactly what they were doing other than 'It's dangerous, but it needs to be done.'

"They haven't come back to Grimmland palace," Remus had sighed one day when he firecalled the older wizard. His face looked disappointed in the embers, "You know that you're the first person I would notify if they did"

The older order member had begun staying at the black family home after they had realized that the golden trio had gone there. It was slightly risky, between the death eater's Lupin had spotted outside, and the fact that Snape knew the location, but they had all decided the risk was worth it if the three decided to come back.

At first he'd entertained the idea of going to stay there himself. After all, Remus did have a baby on the way and a new wife, did he really need to be risking himself like that? Especially when Fred was there, a bachelor, no children, with a job he really didn't need to be at, and a twin who preferred to spend most of his time away from their home. But after just two visits to see the older wizard he decided that was a very bad idea.

The living room still smelled like her, and the cabinets had several boxes of her favorite tea, the shower one of her soap bars. Everywhere he looked in the damned place he could see her, and until she actually came back, Fred didn't need the reminders.

Especially since once she did, he didn't even know how she would act around him. She'd told him to shove it the last time they really spoke, and hadn't acted pleased to be around him at all over the summer. Not to mention Hermione had been very chummy with ickle little Ronniekins, perhaps he had shoved her over that edge…

 _Ron_ , he corrected himself, gritting his teeth. _His name is Ron._

It was something he'd only began doing recently to himself, when he had realized that he hadn't thought of his brother by his proper name in years.

The thought had dawned on him one night eating dinner with Lee over.

" _Then Ronnie told me I needed to be quiet or he'd tell mum about how we had…."_

" _When was the last time you called him Ron" his friend had cut in, interrupting his tale from when he was younger._

" _I call him Ron" he said then, sitting up and swirling his firewhisky, this was his third glass._

" _To his face" the other wizard snorted. "I've never heard you talk about him when he wasn't here and just call him 'Ron'."_

 _His face had begun to twist into a sneer, and then he actually thought about it. Aside from actually speaking to his brother or Hermione, he hadn't called Ron by his name in what felt like forever._

 _His friend had gave him a questioning look. "Do you remember?"_

" _Yes" he snapped "I call him Ron plenty, I'm just usually complaining about him when I speak to you" He said lying through his teeth._

The realization had only bitten into the resentment he carried from the night Hermione had left. That didn't mean he wasn't still angry.

 _Every_ time he thought about that night he was angry. Yes he went a little overboard, and yeah sometimes he made fun of Ron just a little too much, but Hermione hadn't taken a _second_ to really look at it from his perspective. If she had then she hadn't let it show. He was so angry at her, and at Ron, even Harry.

Ron was obvious, he was entire reason they ever got into such a mess. Harry had taken her away from him and put her in danger. And _Hermione_.

She'd chosen his brother over him (as most people usually did), then she'd ignored him all summer, made googly eyes with Ron right in front of him, and that was all enough to leave him fuming without adding fire to flame. Worst of all though she'd just disappeared.

The damned witch had left the safety of the burrow to go help her two knucklehead best friends do godric only knew what. She should have stayed, let the wards protect her. Let _him_ protect her.

Now that she'd left, he had finally cracked. Their breakup had put him in a bad mood for months, but that was nothing compared to now that she was really gone. Now that he had no way of making sure she was all right, and well. It had shattered him.

And he was so angry at her for doing it to him. More than that though, he was angry at himself for allowing her to make him feel this way. He'd once been a carefree prankster, without a soul to tie him down and a twin to make sure he always got back up. She'd ruined him.

* * *

"He's taking us nowhere, Mione. He's stuck on this bloody idea that the next horcrux is inside Hogwarts and until he's been proven wrong or right, we're not going to get anywhere"

"But what if he _is_ right Ron?" she hissed back as they bent down to collect tinder for the fire that night, a safe distance away from Harry to not risk being heard.

"You said just the other day that it made no sense because You –know-who wouldn't have had time to get into Hogwarts to make one, and if he had then Dumbledore would have found it"

"Yes, but" she pursed her lips and dropped a twig she'd been holding, it was much too thin. "Harry is sort of connected to _You-know-who,_ wouldn't he have the best instincts to go off of on what to do next?"

"Even if he is right" Ron said sighing "There's no way for us to get into Hogwarts at the moment anyway. I'll I'm asking is that we try to get him to forget the idea for right now, so we can move forward. Besides, if one horcrux _is_ inside Hogwarts, that still leaves three others out in the world somewhere, and we have to deal with those too."

"You are much smarter than you cut yourself up to be."

"You are much more of a suck up than you believe yourself to be."

She looked up at him with a tight lipped smile and shoved him. He stumbled, caught his balance and began walking after her once more. Just like he always did.

* * *

The twins had finally agreed that they had to close one day of the week. So on Wednesdays they went to see mum and dad. It was a little tricky getting in and out of the home right now, with all of the wards they had up. In fact it was impossible to get in at all unless you had Weasley blood or an army to attack all at once.

Dad had taken to messing with muggle objects even more than ever before. He could no longer go into his job at the ministry when he was a speculated order member, and not having anything to do was messing with his head almost as bad as Hermione's absence was messing with his own. So when George chose to help mum make food, he decided to go outside and sit with his father in the shed as he tinkered.

It was on a day just like this that Fred found it.

He usually went into the shed and was able to push, pull, and turn any and all buttons without fear of anything actually turning on. Nothing in there had worked in years, and his father didn't know nearly enough about muggle technology to fix anything.

But when his fingers twisted the orange knob of a small red box, it burst to life with a static noise.

Arthur jumped up. "I've been looking for the radio!" he burst coming forward and digging the entire red box out of the container Fred had been peering into. He didn't know how his father had been looking for such an object and not been able to find it. The thing was _massive_ and Gryffindor red to boot.

"What does it do _"_ He questioned as his dad heaved the giant contraption onto the table.

His father didn't answer, only twisted at another knob until the static changed, and instead a soft muggle song greeted his ears.

"This is a muggle Radio" he said proudly "I have some much smaller ones but I've been looking for this one,"

"But what is it meant for" he asked again. The music was nice, but surely that wasn't its only purpose?

"It catches sound waves" his father answered sliding his hands over the lid affectionately and not looking at Fred as he spoke. "People send them out from stations they have set up, and this catches it and plays them aloud."

"So someone chose for this song to be playing right now?" he asked scrunching his face up as he looked upon it.

"No, someone is currently sitting somewhere and playing this song _right now._ Its coming to us through the air and the radio is just helping turn it into a form we can hear."

"So it's only for music" he questioned then, standing from the couch he'd been occupying in the dusty shack.

"Well no" the older Weasley muttered. "Some people will send out their own voices, so they can talk about different subjects, or give the news"

That made Fred's ears perk. "Could we do that"

It was only then that his father looked at him "Yes, but why would you want to?"

"I want to start a news for the war, for people aligned with the light to listen to" he said, speaking faster than he could think. "Could you get more of these, we could give some out to the order members first and tell them to let anyone on our side know about it."

"I suppose it's a good thing I cleared out the ministries box of them before I left isn't it?" Arthur said and glint in his eyes and the Weasley twin smirk spattered across his face.

They had gotten it from someone hadn't they?

* * *

 **AN: First chapter, yay!**

 **Thank you all for choosing to continue reading my story, it means a lot to me.**

 **Please Review!**

 **Mel**


	2. Chapter 2

Lost and Found: Chapter Two

* * *

A week ago their flat had been empty. They had had everything put away and no one coming over to muss anything up. It had been quiet up here, almost unbearably so.

Now in the middle of the room sat the big red radio, scattered around it were wires, papers and food. There were clusters of order members standing to watch or sitting around the radio in chairs, speaking into their wands. They were broadcasting their first show, and ironically though they had given everyone a radio of their own to listen to, they all had wanted to watch live for the first time it played.

And it was playing all right. He would know, he was the only person that kept walking out the door to peak his head into the storage room and listen for a moment to the radio down there, playing their broadcast.

Lee was fantastic. All of those years of quidditch commentating had given him a clear voice, and he could remember everything he needed to say and ask without missing a beat. His father asked him why it wasn't he and George doing the actual show just the day before and he'd laughed because honestly the thought hadn't even occurred to him to do it himself.

"Well Lee's much better at that sort of thing than either of us, and frankly I don't really want to"

"Why not? It was your idea" his father pressed, as he leaned over to look at the books Fred had spread out open on their basement table.

"I'm sure we'll do it at some point" he said shrugging his shoulders, and closing a few of the texts, slipping his math work inside so his father couldn't see. "But I don't want to host. I just don't want to"

"Well I suppose that's all up to you, but Fred" he sighed standing up straight.

He looked over at his father, he'd seen everything. "Yeah?"

"Stop spending all your free time trying to find them, she'll come back when they're done."

The boy just kept closing up his work on tracking spells and didn't bother to tell his father the mantra that had been playing in his head since they left: _What if she can't come back._

Instead he let out a long sigh "I know dad"

* * *

Hermione bit her lip in a feeble attempt to calm down. Griphook was clearly withholding something from his companions, and it was making her stomach twist and mind race to try and figure out what it was.

" _Well, whatever they thought they were going to do with it, Snape decided the sword wasn't safe where it was," said Dirk. "Couple of days later, once he'd got the say-so from You-Know-Who, I imagine, he sent it down to London to be kept in Gringotts instead." The goblins started to laugh again._

" _I'm still not seeing the joke," said Ted._

Her stomach flipped and she briefly considered something. But that couldn't be right, where would it be?

" _It's a fake," rasped Griphook._

" _The sword of Gryfﬁndor!"_

" _Oh yes. It is a copy-an excellent copy, it is true-but it was Wizard-made. The original was forged centuries ago by goblins and had certain properties only goblin-made armor possesses. Wherever the genuine sword of Gryfﬁndor is, it is not in a vault at Gringotts bank."_

" _I see," said Ted. "And I take it you didn't bother telling the Death Eaters this?"_

" _I saw no reason to trouble them with the information," said Griphook smugly, and now Ted and Dean joined in Gornuk and Dirk's laughter._

She tore out the extendable ear and looked up at Harry, a smile splitting her face.

They had it. Godric she could nearly taste it now. The words had come straight out of Gryphook's mouth. The sword of Gryffindor was out there somewhere. Dumbledore had left it for them, had hidden it from Snape, and if anyone could find it, Harry surely would.

The witch felt like she could begin dancing and crying tears of Joy. Rushes of magic ran through her, lighting up her fingertips and bubbling up out of her throat in giggles as she shot ideas back and forth with Harry. The two friends were making use of each other as soundboards, and it felt a little like they were back at Hogwarts, talking over how Harry would handle the next triwizard tournament, or what he should teach them next time the DA met up.

And then Ron opened his mouth.

"Remembered me?" he asked upon Harry and her searching for him. Honestly in their excitement she hadn't, but the locket glimmered at her from around the Weasley's neck, and she wouldn't dare admit it.

"Of course not Ron" she sighed, he was crouched on the bottom of the boys bunk, looking scathed. "What do you think about it" she tried and stepped towards him.

"I think you two should carry on in your little party, because it seemed you were doing just fine without me" He spat, standing from the bed, and looking down at her hard enough to make her step back.

"Oi don't talk to her like that," Harry butt in, placing a hand on her shoulder. "What is your issue mate?"

The happiness that had seeped in the room seemed to disappear in an instant. Her magic that had been tingling in her hands turned sour, in a dull ache, and out of instinct she reached to touch her thigh, where her wand sat in one of the holsters she'd snatched from Bill before they left.

"My _issue?"_ The redhead hissed " _I don't have any issue"_ he said the bitter sarcasm dripping from his tone.

"Spit it out already would you" the boy who lived shot back, moving to stand more in front of her.

"We're in the middle of no-where" he screeched "On a lead to nothing, I thought you had a plan, that Dumbledore had given you something to go off of."

"I've told you both everything he told me" He defended.

"How was I supposed to know that? When you two lied to me through half of last year"

" _Ron"_ she sobbed, but he acted as though he hadn't heard her.

"I wouldn't lie about this, I never promised anything, and I thought you knew what you were getting into"

"So did I"

"So what did you think" Harry demanded "That you'd be home by Christmas, eating five star meals and staying in hotels."

"We thought you had a plan!" He said dragging her in to the argument.

"I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I'm not Dumbledore. I don't know everything!"

"Harry we never expected you to have all the answers" she said softly, but Ron turned on her.

"Please, you told me just yesterday how disappointed you were, that he didn't know half of what we thought he did,"

"I didn't say it like that," she screeched and then turned to Harry "I swear I didn't mean it like that"

He too ignored her "Why are you staying then? Just run home why don't you, let mummy cook for you again?"

"Ron take off the locket" she said yelling over Harry's curses. "Take it off! Harry he wouldn't say something like this if he didn't have it on!"

"Yes he would! He's been acting like a child the entire time we've been gone,"

"Maybe I've been acting like this because of what you've been doing, ever consider that" The red head was brandishing his wand now, and yelling over the rain that had started outside.

"And what exactly have I been doing" Her other friend asked glaring, and she watched in horror of what the two were about to do.

" _Its just the forbidden forest_ , _they've handled worse"_ Ron spoke in a horrible imitation of Harry "Do you give a shit about my sister at all?"

"I didn't mean it like that and you know it"

"No I don't know that, and I don't know what else my family is going through right now, but you don't care about that now do you!" He roared. "Did you hear what he said ' _the weasley's don't need another child injured'._ What else has happened to my siblings that we don't know about, and that _you_ don't even care about"

"I'm sure that's not what he meant" but her defense went by unheard.

"You don't think I'm worrying about them too! I was terrified when they said Ginny had been caught-"

"She's not your sister" Ron cut him off "They're not your family, you have no idea what I'm going through worrying over them. You don't have any one to worry over like that"

"Only because my parents are dead!" Harry's voice shook as he screamed.

"And because of you mine are about to be in the same boat!"

"Then leave, go home to your mum!"

A sudden movement made Harry reach for his wand, but before either of the boys could cause any more damage, she had her own out.

"Protego!"

The spell effectively separated the two feuding friends, knocking them back only a little, but it didn't stop the glares they were bearing each other down with.

"Leave the locket" Harry croaked, finally breaking the painful silence. He tore it off and Hermione watched in shock. He couldn't actually be leaving?

"What are you doing" She'd been staring at the ground where the locket fell, but when Harry didn't answer, she realized the question was directed at her.

Hermione looked up, the tears beginning to form in her eyes. "What" she asked voice cracking.

"Are you staying?" The question felt like a slap in the face.

She took a step back, looking at him as though she had never known this man standing in front of her. The sadness that had been growing watching her friends argue for the past few minutes, morphed slowly to anger and she spat "I made a commitment to Harry, I'm staying, like you should."

He didn't respond, only turned on his heel and walked out the tent. She rushed forward, only to run into her shield charm. By the time she'd stood, and properly got out the spell to take it down, he had vanished.

* * *

The last thing he'd been expecting to be sitting on the couch in his living room when he came up that night, was Ron.

"What are you doing here" the twin asked, rushing into the room at the sight of his brother. "Where's Harry and Hermione"

Ron looked dazed, he had two wands gripped in his left hand, his own and another one he didn't recognize. "I left them" he whispered. "I was angry and I left them like the bloody idiot I am, and now I can't find them again."

George grabbed the blanket off the back of his couch and began wrapping it around Ron. Fred would be absolutely pissed when he came up from the shop to find Ron there, but right now his little brother was wet, cold, and berating himself. The last thing he needed around was his jealous older brother.

He took a seat on the couch and waved his wand to summon a cup of tea. "What exactly do you mean? Maybe I can help you, but I need to know more"

"We been on the run, trying to help Harry with something…. specific. I can't tell you exactly what, but it's very important. Anyway, we overheard something yesterday, and Harry and Hermione started talking and I felt ill. I've been feeling ill for a while, like they were ignoring me, or talking about me behind my back. So when they asked me something I blew up, Harry and I got into this huge row, and I left because I was so mad."

"What took you so long to come here?" He asked, still fuzzy about the events.

"I ran into a group of snatchers. Managed to get away easy enough mind you, even grabbed one of their wands," he held up the short dark wand that he had been gripping. "but by the time I went back to where I'd left them, they'd already moved."

He stared at the floor. George was never the twin to judge first, but this was a royal fuck-up and he was having a hard time looking at his brother. He couldn't imagine what Fred would think of this.

"I couldn't go to mum and dad's first, I wasn't sure I be able to hold it together long enough to explain myself."

"I get it." The twin nodded as the cup he'd summoned floated onto the coffee table. "Listen tomorrow, we'll decide what we need to do. It'll be Wednesday, which is usually when Fred and I go over to see them anyway, but you don't have to come if you don't want to. We'll keep quiet as long you want us to. But tonight you're going to drink a couple of these." He picked up the cup and pressed it into his little brother's hands. "and take a shower before you sleep in my bed, because you smell like shit"

Ron snorted "Not many showers in the middle of no-where mate."

"And Hurry up and get in" George said standing. "Fred should be coming up in 20 and I'd like to explain why you're here, before he actually sees you"

"Why"

"That is a very long story, that I don't think you should hear from me" Ron straightened on the couch looking worried. "But it's about Hermione, and he's not going to be happy when he finds out you left her."

* * *

Things were much quieter without Ron to complain about the food. It was not however a welcomed quiet, Harry thought, when the only thing likely to break it was Hermione's sobs.

The two didn't speak much at all to each other, only of little things, like when they had to move camp, or who would take first watch. He did manage to get her to hold a small conversation with him yesterday, and they had agreed to go to Godric's hallow and try to find the sword. They would do so in a week or two, whenever they felt up to it, and right now with the way she was crying everytime the sun set or they had to move camp, he was sure she wasn't up to it.

Honestly he wasn't up to it either. Every time the locket passed over his head onto his throat he could feel his fists clench, and his mind shot to one last look he'd shared with Ron before he stormed out of the tent. He hated his best friend right then, it was like he was looking at a completely different person. But each time he took it off and watched Hermione delicately place it on her own neck, he just felt sad, because without it on he could remember in detailed clarity what the thing did to you, to your thoughts. He would realize that when he had stared his friend down, and made him leave, Ron really hadn't been the same person, but he had been and that made it his fault.

"Harry" his late night thoughts were interrupted by Hermione coming outside. "It's my turn to stay watch."

He nodded and stood, handing her off the locket as he went in.

She took the horcrux from her friend, biting her lip. The sound of canvas flapping told her he'd gone inside, so she just stared at the stupid thing in her hand. He insisted they needed to wear it, but she didn't think it would go missing sitting in her lap, and sometimes the damned thing made her want to do stupid things. Hermione couldn't count how many times just this week she'd imagined standing up from her watch duty and just wandering off into the woods or dissaperating away like Ron had. Maybe if he was still here she would have, but the thought of leaving Harry alone always stopped her.

A glance back at the tent caused her enough guilt to slip it on, and immediately regret it. Fred's face flashed in her mind and her stomach flipped. Harry had the map to check on Ginny, but she had nothing.

Now that Ron had left, she really had nothing.

Just the thought of him made her grit her teeth. They'd been best friends since first year, she'd considered him family, she'd given up some who _really_ made her happy to spare his feelings. All the pain she'd endured this past year was for Harry and for _him_ and he'd still left. She spent all of this time tip toeing around his feelings, and had made everyone else do it with her, and in return he had totally disregarded theirs.

She felt so _stupid._ That last night she'd gone to Fred's kept replaying in her head, making her cringe. She'd been ignorant of the true family dynamics she doubted she would ever fully understand, and took it out on him. Hermione had said so many things to him that night. He'd been acting bitter all summer as well, would he ever even speak to her again, would she live to find out, or did she let Ron ruin it.

 _Hindsight is twenty-twenty,_ she thought bitterly. Now she could see it, at least better than she could before. Fred said things to demean his brother, did things to torment him, but Ron did it as well, just much more quietly, the way younger siblings always managed to do.

Fred had once told her something in a joking manner, and now she could see that it likely wasn't much of a joke at all.

" _He was always good about making sure mum was around, so anything we said or did to him was seen, and held against us"_ He'd told her one night, after a couple shared glasses of wine, as he laughed " _Oh but when he did something to us she was never around, and if we told her anything of it we were lying. Because we were the troublemakers, and he was her angel baby-boy"_ At that point the twin had nearly been rolling on the floor in laughter, and she'd shrugged it off.

She was no longer shrugging it off. The witch was analyzing every little thing he'd ever said to her about Ron, studying every word like she did best.

" _Oh we could never go grocery shopping with mum, after Ronnie blamed us for breaking a vial of screeching sunflower seeds in an apothecary when we were little."_

" _I don't care for string beans, Ron once snuck worms into mine at supper."_

" _We had our brooms taken from all of us for an entire summer because he told mum we were cheating in quidditch."_

" _You should have heard her yelling at us for the way we were acting that year. 'When your brother is a prefect you two act like fools'."_

It made her chest ache to think about. She still loved Ron, she couldn't help it, but right now she was so angry at him, she was positive if he showed up in front of her she'd hex off his bollocks. Meanwhile Fred….

If she even lived long enough to speak to him again, she didn't know how he'd react. Hermione had basically told him she was picking his brother over him. And the way he'd acted every time he saw her over summer was certainly not encouraging. What if she'd ruined everything, trying to save something else. What if she ended up with nothing?

* * *

Fred had run to the store before going back up to the flat after work. He had only been cooking for himself nowadays so it had been forever since he'd gone, and with the next radio show happening in a few days he wanted to have food for everyone.

He had just heaved all the bags onto the counter, when his eyes found it.

His dear baby brother was opening a cabinet, and pulling out the last of his whales crackers, looking completely innocent.

"Where is she?" were the first words out of his mouth, and without realizing it he rushed around the counter and grabbed his brother by the shoulders. "Where is she, is she in the apartment?" He took in the sight of his brothers wet hair, and a whiff of his shower gel. How long had they been back? Why hadn't George gotten him, he should have been home hours ago.

When Ron didn't speak, Fred let go of him to run through the apartment. He didn't care if he found Harry, George, and Hermione having a threesome in the bathroom, so long as she was here and she was safe. But he opened both bedrooms, both bathrooms, scanned the living room, and opened every closet. Nothing, and when he went back to the kitchen George was there asking Ron something.

"Where the fuck are they?" he demanded looking at his brothers. Neither said a thing, Ron only looked at him a mix of dazed and upset. A thought crossed his mind and his voice got much more quiet with his next question "She's okay isn't she?"

"She's fine" Ron finally croaked "At least she was yesterday when I last saw her."

"You left her?" he asked in the same breathy desperate voice he'd hand before.

Ron looked at the floor "Yes"

"You left her with the most wanted fucking boy in the whole wizarding world" he roared his voice getting louder with each word until he reached a crescendo. He walked forward as he spoke, pulling out his wand.

George knew him too well, and he had a shield charm put up on the two of them before he could even decide which curse was best fitting for his little brother.

He felt like a mad man as he stared his brother down, eyes wide, and teeth bared as he pushed on the quivering charm George had put up. "She left me for you, and you left her"

* * *

 **AN: I considered not having Ron leave at all like he did in canon, since a lot of his leaving was centered on he and Hermione's relationship, but I think the way I focused it worked out.**

 **Please Review!**

 **Mel**


	3. Chapter 3

**Lost and Found: Chapter Three**

 **AN: Okay, so you all know I usually keep to a very strict update schedule, the latest I get in is usually late Sat. night. Well you might also know that hurricane Matthew hit the eastern sea board of the U.S. a couple weeks ago when I was supposed to last update….**

 **I live in a town that got hit pretty hard, and we lost power/internet for a long time. Not to mention something happened to my computer since I had it plugged in during the storm. After the power went out I couldn't get it to turn back on so I could even edit the next chapter. So first I had to wait for staples to open up again to take this into the geek squad, wait for the internet to get fixed, and on top of it wait for my computer to come back.**

 **Let's just say I have not been a happy girl this week.**

 **I just got everything back today and am posting so late because it just took me so long to edit and actually** _ **finish writing**_ **chapter 4. I'm posting the two together since I kind of owe you guys from last week, but don't expect the next chap to be perfect grammatically, I barely got it out let alone edited it.**

 **Oh and thank you for all the Reveiws! I couldn't write or post, but I was able to check my emails on my phone this week and it felt good to know people were missing my story. You guys are awesome.**

* * *

When Fred woke, he had a few minutes of hope that the previous night had been a horrible dream, induced by constant fretting over Hermione's safety. But when he walked through the den to go make his early morning coffee, his eyes drew in on the body sleeping on his couch. His fucking twat of a brother was snoring away, sleeping peacefully like he hadn't just abandoned his friends and left them for dead.

He briefly considered waking him up with a foot to the groin, but then remembered that his younger sibling wasn't worth the time it would take, and he would expect food if he woke up before breakfast.

So instead he made his way to the kitchen to begin making his twin's and his own breakfast, like he did every day. As he began pulling out eggs, spinach, cheese and ham (the exact omelet he'd been making for Georgie since he learned that was his favorite.) his hands stopped in their movements.

When he'd come in last night, Ron had been showered, warmed up, and well fed. Which meant he'd been up there for a while, protected under George who must have known how he'd react when he got home. His teeth grit at the thought, and slowly he put away half of everything he'd pulled out, and continued on making his breakfast.

* * *

Hermione was hunched over The Tales of Beetle the Bard, for the hundredth time looking over this marking that was over one of the chapter names. For most of the time she'd had the book she had assumed it was an eye, but a week ago she had noticed that the mark was inked in and not in fact a part of the book. Since then she'd been comparing to every symbol in the Spellman's Syllabary, and it hadn't appeared as anything close to what the book offered, and the book had never failed to give her a translation before.

"Harry" she finally called, because while it wasn't in the syllabary it still looked familiar. "Do you recognize this," she held up the book as he walked towards her.

"It looks familiar" he said straightening his glasses.

"It does to me too" she said scrunching her eyes down at it.

He pulled the book from her hands and slowly spoke "The wedding, I saw Luna's father wearing it"

"You're right" she sat up in her seat.

"Krum told me that it was Grindelwald's mark"

Hermione looked up at him shocked " _Gindelwald?_ Where did he learn that?"

"He said it was carved on a wall at Durmstrang and that Grindelwald had put it there, so it was his mark"

"I've read nearly everything about him" she murmured more thinking out loud rather than really speaking to Harry. "How have I never run across the fact that he had a mark"

"I dunno" he responded. "But Hermione I've been meaning to ask you, I think we really need to go to Godric's Hollow soon"

"Your right" she agreed, surprising him. She hadn't been up to doing much at all lately "sooner of later one of those goblin's are actually going to tell the death eater's the sword is a fake, and they're much more likely to find it before us."

"Do you want to leave now?" he asked, but she had the locket on at the moment and he knew the answer.

"I'm really tired right now Harry, what about this evening"

"Alright then,"

* * *

She had thought at first it was the locket keeping her awake, but in fact it was much easier to drift off with it on.

And every time she did she regretted it.

Almost immediately after Harry left the tent her eyes started fluttering. She forced them open and stood to pick up her things. Perhaps if she moved it wouldn't happen this time.

That was a foolish thing to think. Within twenty minutes she's forgotten all about why she was forcing herself to keep moving, and her bed looked so inviting. Just like her parents blindly packed their things and moved to Australia after she'd obviated them, she shuffled numbly over to her bunk, and crawled in under her red comforter.

 _Warm. By now it was something so unfamiliar and distant to Hermione that it almost seemed like a trick. Some diabolical plan devised by someone no less cruel than Umbridge or cunning as the twins- in which they enveloped her in this cocoon of dry, warm blankets- only to yank them away and shove her into the depths of the great lake._

 _So when an arm reached out and wrapped itself around her waist, her first instinct was to flinch and brace herself for the frozen water. Nothing happened, save for a deep chuckle greeting her eardrums._

 _Her eyes opened to look into the smiling face of Fred Weasley. It was a sight she hadn't seen in forever, or at least what felt like forever. Still she smiled back up at him, accepting with no questions, why they were lying in her childhood bed, looking at each other as happily as they had been doing in march._

" _Breakfast" a voice called, calming as a cloudless day, but still Hermione jumped._

 _Fred's grip tightened to hold her down in the bed, and he laughed at her. "Hold on love, I kept myself from helping your mum with the cooking this morning so I could hold you just a little longer, give me a minute"_

 _She would swear her brain melted at the words, and if any sensibility had followed her here it was gone now. The witch pressed her face forward into his chest and inhaled, craving so desperately that smell that was so distinguishingly Fred- cinnamon-sugar, smoke, and green apples._

 _Distantly she heard her father yelling something about the two of them getting their clothes on and coming downstairs, but she hardly noticed because when she breathed in, the scent that greeted her was nothing short of gravel and blood. It was like reliving the feeling of being shoved off the monkey bars on a muggle playground._

 _Hermione moved to stand up, but his grip on her waist tightened, and when she looked up he was no longer smiling. In fact there was nothing to cross his face at all, only dull apathy._

" _You left me, in the middle of a war, you left me here."_

 _Despite his monotone voice, her heart began to crack and she struggled further to get away._

 _He continued on in the same tone, and she struggled all the while. When she finally managed to get out from his death hold she tumbled down the side of her bed onto the floor. The witch had barely gotten to her feet when there was a scream from downstairs. She stumbled out of her childhood room, that was filling with smoke, and down the stairs._

 _Everything she could see was aflame. The signature green fires of death eaters ate away at her living room furniture and hooded figures were running through her home, laughing and yelling. When one of them began walking directly for her she reached for her wand and found nothing to help her._

 _Hermione closed her eyes and waited for the crucio that was sure to come, but his robes only brushed her as he breezed past. She turned shocked to watch as he merely went past her into their dining room and began pulling out her mother's fine china to throw on the floor._

 _When more death eaters walked past her, and did nothing, she realized that they either did not see her, or merely didn't care about her. Which meant they were here for someone else._

 _She pushed through a group of them crowded in her living room, and the sight in front of her made the bile rise in her throat. The three other people who had been in the house with her were tied and on their knees in the center of all the crowd. Hermione made to move forward and help, but then hands held her back by her arms. They could see her, they had only wanted her to see this._

 _The only one she could see with a white mask moved forward. He pulled off his mask and she wasn't surprised by Lucius Malfoy's sneering face. She watched horrified as he grabbed her father by the throat and threw him to the floor. He landed face first against their living room fireplace, and even with the jeering and cackling of the death eaters she could hear his nose break. Clear and echoing, he tried to force himself back up, and she got a glimpse of his blood coated face, before a mermaid skinned oxford pushed his face down into the floor once more._

 _She struggled further, but the grip on her arms only got stronger, painfully so. She turned to scream profanity at whatever death eater was holding her still, but found her captor was not wearing his mask, and her mouth gaped at him._

 _Nearly indistinguishable, Gregary Goyle stared down at her. His face was raw and mangled and she realized the hands holding her were red like a new layer of skin. He looked like a person who'd been in a motorcycle accident and had had layers of skin removed from hitting the pavement. With a jerk she realized he looked like someone who had fallen off a broom, far over the London skyline._

 _The screaming of her dad was the only thing to tear her eyes away from the mutilated boy. He was writhing on the floor, and she realized Malfoy had begun the crucius. That only made her kick and scream. He stopped for a moment, only to slam her father's into the fireplace and begin again. It seemed to go on forever. The noise in the room was overcome by her father's screams, her mother's crying, her profanity and screeches, and then Fred's calls to her to calm down -that they would be okay. It was a horrible cacophony, and the sound itself was killing her, twisting her insides like they were play dough._

 _Finally it stopped. Her father's voice broke off suddenly, and so did the rest of theirs. He slumped to the floor, and tears pooled in her eyes. Things would not be okay._

 _Malfoy went for Fred next. This time she closed her eyes and kept silent. She let the tears roll down her cheeks and merely listened to what was happened. He sounded like he was doing his best not to scream, but she knew it was hopeless and soon the sound was grating on her ears. Hermione wasn't sure if it was worse to not know what was happening, but she couldn't stand to look up at him._

 _Only when the noise stopped did she open her eyes. Then she saw less of Fred, and more the beast that had his flesh between its claws. Lucius hadn't dealt the torture this time at all, it was Greyback leaning over the redhead's body, his blood smeared around his mouth. Her mother was crying almost as hard as she was._

 _She bit her lip and waiting, hoping they would go ahead and put her down there before doing anything to her mum. Instead Greyback turned to look down at her mother and took hold of her hair._

" _Practice for your daughter" he grit, pulling her by her roots towards the back of the room, as others pulled at her clothes, tearing them._

 _Morning light poured in through the living porch doors. Taunting her with the Indian summer day she used to love, that now was lighting the horrible scene in front of her, as her mum's pajamas were pulled down._

 _Just like with Fred, she didn't look. She just wept, and stared at the floor, trying to deny the sounds that were confirming her worst fears. When a crack sounded like the noise of apparition, she looked up to her mother lying on the floor, neck snapped. Footsteps came towards her, along with the stench of rotting flesh, but she took little notice or care. Because the way the three's bodies were lying made a triangle, surrounding her family's circular oriental rug, and the shadow cast by the figure walking towards her cut the shapes perfectly in half._

 _It looked like something._

She blinked, it was not how she usually awoke. One moment the strange symbol was baring down on her in her dreams, and the next she was staring at the canvas roof of the tent. No shaking, no tears, no gasping or sweat like when she usually woke up. It was just a change of scene so sudden that she worried she was still asleep, and pinched herself.

"Are you okay?"

Harry's voice startled her, and she turned in her sheets to watch him slip the locket over his own neck.

"I didn't mean to wake you"

"I don't think you did" she muttered, and pushed herself out of bed. If it was Harry's shift, then it was past time they planned to leave for Godric's hallow. "Lets start packing, I at least want to leave before the sun goes down"

* * *

Ron had chosen to stay at mum and dad's after they left Wednesday night. Which had been perfectly fine with him, he hadn't wanted the fucker around the apartment on his day off.

He'd assumed that after that they wouldn't be seeing much more of Ron for a while at least. Fred had even planned to skip the next few days at their parents just so he wouldn't have to see that damn face that made him want to punch a wall. However it became obvious he wouldn't be able to avoid Ron so easily after he flooed into the apartment Thursday night, just as he was finishing dinner.

At first he hadn't acknowledged his presence, only started spooning out his food and let George speak to him.

"Freddie do we have enough food for Ron?"

The twin snorted as he pulled out his rather large bowl of potato soup out of the pot "No, we don't"

That was the truth actually. It was petty, but when he and his brother were angry with one another they had a tendency to stop doing things for each other they would normally. George hadn't folded his clothing in a week, and he'd been skimping out on his brother's portions every day. There was really only about two servings in the bowl, and Fred usually finished one and a half at the least.

"Well he can have mine" George snapped. They had not exactly been on good terms before Ron had come home. With his ill mood from Hermione being gone, George's self- righteous attitude telling him about how he had warned him from the beginning about getting involved with her, and then their arguments about whether or not to close the shop. It wasn't good, they hadn't had a fight like this in years. It made being in the apartment feel like swimming in molasses. It was slow, with awkward sticky conversations, and it made you struggle to get out even more.

"It still won't be enough, the way the Ron eats" he called back, and gave himself an extra scoop for good measure.

"With what we had to eat out in the tent, I actually don't eat nearly as much as I used to." Ron murmured. "I'm sorry to put you out and I'll pay for the groceries if you'd like"

"Don't even offer to do that, it's nothing" George insisted as Fred laughed, and said

"With what money?"

"Stop it" George snapped.

He ignored his twin and instead asked "What are you doing here anyhow?"

"I can't stay with mum and dad"

"The hell you can't" he asked taking the first bite, it warmed his churning stomach as he stared down his little brother.

"I just can't stay there, they keep fretting over me, and I don't deserve it, and I have questions…." He trailed, looking at the floor with only a single glance up at Fred.

"If you don't want to be fretted over, find something to eat for yourself, and sleep on the couch. Keep your questions in until tomorrow, because frankly looking at you right now makes me want to vomit." He knew what he was saying was cruel, but he'd always been the harsher of the twins, and the one that always got fucked over worse by Ronnie. And right now, with the situation surrounding them, he really didn't care how bad he made Ron feel, so long as he was in pain.

"Okay, that's fair"

He had to restrain himself from rolling his eyes, as he brushed past his siblings and went to his room to finish his food and go to bed.

* * *

She felt sick to her stomach. And not the rolling boughs of hunger that had begun normal since they'd left the burrow, but rather puking sick. Like she was about to give up the fish they'd had yesterday, and the only protein she'd had in weeks. It was because of the damn polyjuice potion they'd taken and she knew it. Ever since the cat incident in second year the stuff had bothered her even more than it did most people.

But she wasn't about to say a word to Harry, who was looking around the snow covered Godric's hallow in wonder. His disguise as a balding older muggle made it a little strange to look at, and also a little comforting. The man they had taken the hair from reminded her strangely of her father, though they looked nothing alike, they had the same natural air about them that calmed a person down.

How the man they had taken his cover from was married to her disguise's owner she would never know. Because while he carried such a calming presence, her's was more a mix of Belletrix's crazy and McGonnigal's 'don't fuck with me'. Of course perhaps they would need one of them to look like that. Maybe if they were spotted none of the death eaters would want to risk attacking a woman that looked so insane.

She smiled a little thinking about it, as they strolled down the path winding through Harry's old neighborhood. Suddenly their rode took a turn to the left and they followed it down through the trees until she could see lights, and hear music.

In fact it was Christmas carols carried out of the doors of a church, along with red and green string lights hanging overtop a pub's door. There were rows of building's with people walking in and out of them. Children were running by them, giggling like they had sweets in their pockets. The bell atop the steeple sounded then and something occurred to her.

"It's Christmas Eve" she breathed very quietly and then much louder "Harry its Christmas eve."

He jerked and looked down at her suddenly with wide eyes. "Are you sure?"

"I nearly positive" she laughed "I knew it was coming, but I lost track of the date"

He seemed to be looking around for a moment, as though for proof and replied. "I think you may be right"

The two continued walking together hand in hand, in a shared wonder and joy. It was bizarre, to realize that during such a time of year you are living in constant fear for your life, and the rest of the world is moving on without you and celebrating just as usual.

"Harry look the church" she whispered, pointing to the white building they were nearing. The music was getting louder, and now that they were so close, she could see the graveyard behind the building. "They would be there wouldn't they," she pointed "your parents, I mean."

"That would make sense"

She let a moment pass before asking her next question, a little scared of what might happen when she did "Would you like to go see them?"

He gave a small nod, that Hermione would not have noticed had she not been looking directly at him. They moved to walk but Harry stopped and turned just as they passed some sort of memorial.

"Do you see that" Hermione only saw a large stone, likely a war memorial.

"Are they wizarding names?" she asked looking at Harry for a brief moment, but when she turned back to the stone, it was not as it had previously looked.

Lily and James Potter were smiling in a bronze embodiment, looking down at the newborn in her arms, like he was the light of their life. The man was so shockingly like Harry, she looked back at her friend, like she needed to compare, before remembering that he was disguised under the polyjuice potion. Still, there was no mistaking the waves of black hair, and lopsided glasses. Sometimes she forgot exactly how famous Harry was, but she'd practically grown up looking at that face. Looking at it molded into a statue was just another vicious reminder that Harry was a legend in the wizarding world, and no matter what happened to Voldemort, he'd never escape it.

She turned after one last look at the Potters, to walk down past the church. Harry took a minute longer, but caught up with her as she went to open the gate around the church. A few paces onto the green and she nearly jumped out of her skin when something screeched from a bush next to her.

Her instincts made her hand reach for her wand, but Harry stopped her "It's just some kids."

The witch looked up to see two little boys staring at them looking sheepish. "Sorry," the taller one spoke, "We were trying to scare our mum and dad"

"It's okay" she said softly a little in awe. Their cheeks were red, with dark hair and skin, eyes so light she couldn't tell exactly what color they were. The little one was wearing fat rimmed green glasses, and they could both easily pass for Harry's cousins.

"You two have a wonderful holiday" Harry said in that weird, but calming voice.

"Same to you Mr., Mrs." The little one said as they pushed their way out of the bush and began walking back towards the main road, where their parents likely were.

Hermione looked up at Harry's face, to gage if he had had the same, sad revelation as she. From the locked jaw she could tell that he had, but he had not seen it in quite the same light. They continued walking around the church, and then though the rows of headstones, looking for the Potters, until finally Harry called her over to where he was standing.

She made her way next to him and looked down at the tombstone, but the names weren't right.

"They're not your parents…." She began, but then her eyes scanned over the graves once more.

 _Kendra Dumbledore, and her daughter Ariana._

Her breath caught. _Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also._ It read underneath.

"Did he ever mention-" she started, but her cut her off.

"No" Harry's eyes looked like they were swimming over the words again and again, overthinking what Dumbledore had said to him, as usual. "Let's keep moving"

They continued on together for a few more paces, but while Harry did not stop much longer than it took to change the names, some of the headstones caught her eye and made her pause. After a few rows went by like this, she found it.

"Harry!" she called, his silhouette was barely visible halfway across the yard, especially since the church members had gone home, and the lights had been turned off. "Come here"

Hermione watched with a bitten lip as he rushed over. He looked like he had the night of Dumbledore's murder. A white face that looked like a churning mixture of doubt and grief.

JAMES POTTER LILY POTTER

BORN 27 MARCH 1960 BORN 30 JANUARY 1960

DIED 31 OCTOBER 1981 DIED 31 OCTOBER 1981

The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.

The words shined up at them on white marble, just like at the headmaster's funeral.

"Wait" her friend spoke, "Isn't 'destroying death' a death eater saying"

"They didn't mean it in the same way Harry" she said quickly trying to explain away to her friend something she was not completely sure of herself, if only to comfort him. "They meant defeating death as in- in a way- they're still living. Living beyond death."

Then she looked up at Harry, who had tears beginning to stream down his cheeks, and thought _living through you._

Instead of voicing the thought (because she knew too well Harry did not enjoy her sappy commentary) she took his hand in her, squeezed tightly, and pulled her wand out with the other. A few flicks of her wrist and he was holding a wreath of white flowers. Slowly he bent and placed it perfectly between their names, and then began walking away, without another word.

* * *

 **Read and Review!**

 **Love, Mel**


	4. Chapter 4

**Lost and Found: Chapter Four**

 **AN: Felt like I should mention there's a bit of a time difference between the two story lines, they may meet up once and a while, but are usually like a day or so apart. So like last chapter Harry and Hermione ended on Christmas Eve, but the first part of this chapter begins with Fred the day before Christmas Eve.**

* * *

"Do we even need to stay opened the rest of the week" Fred pleaded, in an attempt to get George to see his dilemma. "Christmas Eve is tomorrow"

"Exactly, we were busy yesterday because everyone wants to buy last minute gifts" His twin explained for what felt like the umpteenth time just that morning "You're just upset Ron is going down with you."

"Yes I am" he said, in no attempt to deny it. "Just because he worked with you yesterday, doesn't mean I want him around."

"He needs something to do, you know better than anyone that trying to find Harry and Hermione is going to be a waste of time and energy" George huffed.

"Then why doesn't he work the shop on his own"

"We'll be busy, he won't be able to do it on his own."

"We've barely had 20 customers in the last week."

"Yesterday we were so slammed I nearly considered dragging you downstairs to help as well"

"Then you come down today as well"

George rubbed his temples, clearly exasperated. "He wants to speak with you, about the elephant in the room, and I think we'll all be better for it"

He was probably right, his twin had always been better with emotions than he was. Still, the thought of speaking to Ron made him want to slam his head into a brick wall.

"I want to close for three days after Christmas"

"You can make it a week, I need a break as well" He held out a hand and Fred took it. They shook, and before he knew exactly how it happened George was hugging him. "Let's try to keep everything positive and upbeat, at least for the rest of the holidays. I don't want to be avoiding you, but I also don't want you to do nothing but mope around all day"

"I'm trying Georgie" he sighed and squeezed his brother back "I'm trying"

* * *

"Someone's watching us" Hermione whispered, and stopped them.

"What do you mean" Harry whispered back to her.

"There" she pointed over to the same bushes the boys had scared them in.

"Are you sure its not those kids?"

"Positive" she had a feeling in the pit of her stomach. "And everyone's gone home by now, they wouldn't still be out."

"Maybe its just an animal." He said once more trying to deny what she saw "And we look like Muggles."

"Muggles that just laid flowers on your parents graves" she said and yanked her hand from his. Her left arm was fine for conjuring a wreath, but she needed the right to fight.

"Let's put the cloak on and get out of here then"

She nodded, and helped him to pull the cloak out and cover themselves. They began walking and she noticed with a snort that Harry was so tall he now had to squat just a little to ensure that the cloak covered their feet.

As they neared the end of the square, she saw the other end of the village, and the countryside beyond it.

"Harry, this way"

The houses on this side looked much smaller, and private. The foliage gave a good cover, and the homes were spaced apart. Just as she was about to say that maybe they should go back the way they came, Harry began pulling on her sleeve and taking her to the end of the road.

"Look at it, Mione, do you see it" he said dragging her to the last cottage. It was half collapsed, and the plants in the yard had overtaken anything that people had once lived in.

The small picket fence surrounding the property was tilted and rotting, but that was nothing in compared to the top of the home, where the entire second floor and roof were gone, as though swept off by a hurricane.

"I can't believe no one's fixed it"

"What would that do" he friend murmured "Fixing the house won't fix anything else."

Just as she was about to say that he shouldn't go inside, the entire place could collapse on him, a sign burst from the ground in the yard. In calligraphy it read:

 _On this spot, on the night of 31 October 1981, Lily and James Potter lost their lives. Their son, Harry, remains the only wizard ever to have survived the Killing Curse. This house, invisible to Muggles, has been left in its ruined state as a monument to the Potters and as a reminder of the violence that tore apart their family._

Her friend turned and looked down at her, a smile plastered across his face. He opened his mouth looking as though he was going to speak, but then his eyes drifted up and she realized he was looking past her.

Hermione turned to see a small figure, hobbling down the snow covered lane, directly towards them. The closer the person got the more assured Hermione was that it was a woman, one that must had been ancient or severely hurt from the way she walked.

When the woman finally came to a stop in the middle of the road, looking straight at the two of them, she shifted closer to Harry under the cloak. Uneasy of their position. She had to be a witch to be looking at the Potters home, but why would she bother to come out in this weather, at this time of night to stare at an old monument.

Hermione's fingers had just curled around her wand when the woman raised a gloved hand and waved. She looked up at Harry, but he was staring at the woman.

"Do you think she can see us?"

Her question was answered when the woman gave a much more violent wave.

Her mind ran away from her, and as she considered grabbing Harry's hand and just apparating them both away, he spoke "Are you Bathilda?"

Hermione's head snapped to turn and look at the woman as she nodded, and began hobbling away from them once more. Finally Harry returned her look, and she could tell he wanted to follow her.

So she allowed him to begin walking, and they followed the woman up the way they had come. A few homes later, she turned left and pushed open a screeching gate, leaving it open for them. As they walked up to the front door, Harry pulled the cloak off of them.

Bathilda unlocked the house, and stepped to the side to allow them in. The two did, Harry walking slowly and uneasy as Hermione clutched his arm, and walked nearly glued to his back. As she passed through the doorway it, Hermione nearly doubled over from the stench. It wasn't the normal elderly smell of dust and mothballs, but instead it was rotten and molding. Either she had left meat out, or something had died in the house.

The home was nearly indistinguishable in the dark, but as she watched Harry offer and then light tens of tea candles around the room it slowly came into sight. Then she wished they would all go out again. The witch couldn't decide if the frames that actually had photos of wizards in them -almost unmoving (which made her think for a second they were muggle) and boring down at her like they could smell the mud in her blood- or the ones that had nothing in them at all, were creepier. Regardless, they made her skin itch, and she felt for a moment like needed to peel herself out of it.

Miss Bagshot attempting to light the fireplace tore her gaze away from the odd photos, and she moved to do it for her. The old woman looked at her with a hint of disgruntlement and handed her over the firewood.

"Who is this?" Harry's voice broke the silence and she glanced behind her to see a photo he was holding up. "Mrs Bagshot who is this?"

Bathilda did not respond. By this point Hermione was convinced the old woman was mute, and maybe deaf as well. Harry had not yet come to this conclusion.

" , who is this photo of?"

She did not hear an answer, but she but have gestured something because her friend spoke again, with instructions.

"She wants us to follow her upstairs." As the words left his tongue, her fire roared to life and she stood to turn and walk with them, but the other witch was now gesturing madly, between her, Harry, and the crumbling ceiling. "No, I think she wants you to stay here 'mione"

"Why would she need that" Hermione asked, her voice a higher pitch than usual. The sight of Ron leaving their tent flashed through her mind, and made her heart thump. If Harry did not come back down she did not know what she would do with herself.

"Maybe Dumbledore told her she could give the sword to me and only me"

His argument was weak, but Hermione never did seem to win debates like this with Harry. Her logic would never overcome his stubbornness.

She let him go, and sat in the middle of the moldy, dusty room, praying to leave, preferably with the same amount of body parts they had come in with.

* * *

Maybe it was truly pathetic, but he saw his little brother, it made him want to sneer.

George had been right, they were pretty slammed. Not so packed that he couldn't have handling it on his own, but definitely too much to have thrown Ron into alone. Despite the crowds, Fred kept getting glances of the fool, walking from the register and around the shelves to help different people. It drove him a little mad. How could he not be tearing himself apart, wasting away his days in self-loathing after what he had done. No, apparently he only did that when Hermione was around to pity him.

They stayed open a little after 1, which was later than Fred was used to taking his lunch and inventory break, but they had been so busy he hadn't wanted to usher people out without the reassurance that they would be back after lunch. It certainly had nothing to do with the fact that he was scared he might spontaneously crack and attack his brother in the middle of their meal.

He said nothing when he closed the store, only began walking down the road, and Ron followed.

"Where do you usually eat" Ron asked, jogging a little to catch up.

"The three Broomsticks" he answered easily.

He didn't have to look to tell Ron was confused. "Its back that way…" he offered unhelpfully gesturing in the opposite direction they were walking.

"Ronniekins," He had stopped following his 'only Ron' rule the moment he saw his brother in their apartment "you're supposed to be in school right now, and the two of us sort of stick out like sore thumbs. We'll eat at the Hog's head. Between the people on the street and the dingy pub, no death eaters should see us."

Ron said nothing to oppose this plan, so Fred continued on his way.

They entered the pub's doors and he gestering to the barkeep with two upheld fingers. Despite what he had told Ron, it wasn't that odd that he chose to come here instead of the broomsticks. The place was nearly falling apart, creaked with every step, and there was usually at least one fight broken out in his time there, but they made their butterbeer strong, and had the world's most damn fantastic lamb shanks. It reminded him of home when he was little.

As predicted, the blond witch had known his normal order and brought over two cups of butterbeer, along with two shots of a dark green liquid, that he knew was some of England's finest gigglewater. Ron looked at the shot for a moment, picked it up and twirled it with a disgusted and considering look on his face. When he set it back down, Fred took it and downed it, having already drank his. Ron only drank his butterbeer.

"I suppose I can't blame you" Fred said breaking the silence "If I remember correctly, about a year ago you were given some strange rum and nearly died because of it"

"Mead" He corrected him, palming his drink "It was mead"

Soon after, the serving witch returned with his usual order- three lamb shanks wrapped in bacon with snap peas and escalloped potatoes on the side, and an ungodly large slice of chocolate chip pumpkin pie for dessert. He had attempted the dish many times at home before, but it seemed he could never get all three just perfect on the same night. Not that Hermione hadn't reassured him it was perfect the dozens of times he had tried to make it for her when she came over for the night.

Ron's eyes widened as his own plate was set in front of him.

He decidedly looked down at his plate and said "Don't worry, George is paying." He had wanted their brother to stay, and had therefore offered to pay for everything the moron ate. If that meant Fred could go and buy his favorite meal as compensation for having to spend the day with their brother, he would take it.

"It's not the money" Ron muttered staring down at the food. "I don't think I can eat it all"

That made him stop mid- bite. He dropped the hand holding his fork and looked up at the other Weasley, like they were seeing one another for the first time. As far as he had seen from what Ron had been consuming just that summer, the boy could easily eat three of these plates.

He must have been able to tell what Fred was thinking because he said "For all she packed 'Mione didn't bring much food with us, and when your allotment is a few mushrooms and crackers a day your stomach shrinks a lot."

The words made his hands tighten around his utensils.

Instead of stabbing his youngest sibling, (like he so _desperately_ craved" Fred released his death grip, and picked up his wand instead. A swift movement put a mufflito in place. He had a feeling this conversation would get loud quickly.

"I'm not blaming her or anything" Ron rushed, as though just realizing what he had said. "Without her Harry and I wouldn't have been smart enough to bring anything, we wouldn't have been alive longer than a week."

"Well no shit" He responded with a sneer.

His brother's eyes flickered down to his wand, still in his right palm. "She showed you mufflito?"

Fred gave a curt nod, and asked "How much do you know"

"Just what I've pieced together" Ron breathed, his voice shaky.

"Do you _want_ to know"

"I think so"

Perhaps it would be best to rip off the bandage, he thought, and if it wasn't then at the very least he would get a show.

"It all started because we slept together"

Ron's eyes became round as saucers, and he couldn't help it, he grinned.

"On her birthday, in my seventh year, I found out from Harry she hadn't yet come back from the Room after the Army's practice that night. So I snuck out to go check on her. I found her reading, but we started talking about this and that, who we each had on our 'lists'" Fred made air quotes with his fingers "Of who we had slept with, until we were doing it."

"You two kept it a secret for almost a year and a half?" Ron asked his face turning an ugly shade of red he could only imagine on the fingernails of a 72 year old hooker.

"No-no, that night we said pretty clearly that it was her 'birthday present'" he laughed "And George and I left soon after that, so nothing could have happened for the rest of that year… Actually," Fred began decisively " _nothing_ happened for me for another year after that night."

Ron was blinking and he was unsure if it was because he _knew_ what Fred meant or because he did not understand at all.

"George and I were going out a lot, in the beginning especially. We brought a lot of birds home being successful new business men with nothing to really hold us back. Except the difference was he was _actually_ sleeping with them." Fred laughed as he spoke, and remembered what he had said to Hermione that very first time they slept together, George really was a man-whore before he had gotten serious with Angelina.

"You weren't having sex with any of them, but you brought them home…."

It sounded even sillier coming out of Ron's mouth than how he had thought of it for so long.

"Every time it felt like something happened. We just made out and I didn't feel like it in the end, or we fell asleep, or I tripped leading her to my bedroom. It just never went well for me, and if I'm honest I felt a little off my game."

Speaking to his brother like this made him feel like an old man, telling his grandson about what a fool this girl had turned him into.

"It eventually came to where I never really wanted to go out like that, and George struck up with Ang so we stopped. I still felt odd though, and I put it aside as the fact that for the first time in my life I was living in my own apartment, owning a business, with no one to be my boss, but then one day I see that Hermione's birthday is in a week and I simply freaked out.

"I lost my marbles and thinking about it all and how I hadn't slept with anyone for a year. I kept thinking about how relaxed George seemed, even though he and I were doing the same amount of work and I was constantly tense. So a few days before she turned 17, I sent her a letter, saying that if she wanted to do the same we had the year before, she could come see me and I'd give her another 'gift'."

"That's where she went that night" Ron muttered looking white as a ghost, "Lavender kept saying shit to me when that happened about how horrible Mione was and how odd it was that a girl had chosen to spend her birthday in the library."

He stifled a chuckle at his brother. "Yes well, she came and I had thought she wouldn't, so when she did I kept thinking about all the girl's I had brought home and messed up with. I was so nervous, but it turned out even better than the year before had been, and then when we were talking after, she offered to help with the joke products and it just spiraled out from there"

"So when did you two break-up" Ron asked, finally looking up at him properly in the eyes. "And why?"

"It was about the beginning of May" he began slowly, the thought of that night still made him want to shout, and tear his hair out by the roots. "She'd been coming to see me less and less because O.W.L.'s were coming, and one night she comes in and tells me…" he considered if he should say the next part or spare his brother, but then he blinked and on the back of his eyelids he could see Hermione dissapperateing in front of him at the wedding. "she told me you had kissed her and that she was feeling so bad for you." He could feel the way his face was morphing and looked down at his lap. The anger from that night didn't need to be shot onto Ron, even if in a strange way it was his fault. "She kept telling me all this shit about how horrible you felt about yourself and how it was partially my fault I snapped.

He spared Ron the gory details and finished his long, sad tale by saying. "We argued until she was telling me she couldn't see me anymore, and she left me"

* * *

 **Read and Review!**

 **Love Mel**


	5. Chapter 5

**Lost and Found: Chapter Five**

 **AN: I'd like to say again that I'm looking for a beta for this story! I've gotten pretty busy lately and barely have time to write, let alone edit this story. I know that some of my big issues are with my spelling and grammar, and I'm trying to get better at that. Still I want someone to double check me and maybe tell me if I'm not explaining something well or if a particular scene is awkward. No one in my actual life knows exactly what I write and I would never ask any of them to read if for me because that would be *awkward* for me since the only people I can even picture doing something like that for me are my siblings.**

 **So if you're interested in doing it just PM me! I will tell you all though that there may be the rare occasion where I only get the chapter to you 3 days before I have to post. Most of the time I am weeks in advance, but I keep it that way so I can afford to fall behind in the schedule I have.**

* * *

Hermione could not decide if it would be better for Harry to wake up now or not. If he didn't wake up soon, she might have her second panic attack of the night, and possibly hyperventilate until she too was asleep on the floor. However when he did come to, it meant she had to explain the fragments of his wand that were lying on the center table of their tent- and that was likely to be more painful to watch than to take care of Harry's snakebite for the next week while he slept.

She had tried twenty different methods to repair it, and not one had kept long enough to perform a single _accio._ Now she was sitting in the armchair, only feet away from her friend, with a book in her lap. His breathing had been shaky when they first apparated and she had watched over him like a boiling pot, but it had been 6 hours and many forced potions later. She knew he was going to live, it was just a matter of waiting on him to open his eyes.

In the meantime she was left with only her head, something she had been trying so hard to avoid. But it was inevitable in a situation like hers.

That _damned_ dream. She'd always had nightmares. As long as she could remember her mind had turned against her at night. But not until last year had they begun repeating. What she had seen right before they left for Grodric's hallow, was not a first, and she doubted it would be the last. Though logically she knew it had no possibility of becoming reality- she'd hidden her parents well enough to know her own chances of ever finding them again were slim.

Now every time she closed her eyes the images were there. Fresh as a new coat of paint she could see her father's twisted neck, her mum's violated body, and Fred's torn features. They wouldn't go away, like her own personal dementors, existing only to drain her.

How much longer could she stand it, she wondered, how much longer until it all became too much and she was barking mad. Would she walk out, like Ron had? She was going bloody mental and she wasn't even wearing the locket. After having to cut it off Harry's neck she hadn't fancied the thought of putting it over her own. But if Harry woke up and asked that she ever put it back on, the witch was sure she would scream until her lungs failed her.

The worst of it all though, was merely having to sit there and _stay awake_ as all of this occurred. She knew she needed to watch Harry, but staring at the boy who lived over _Hogwarts a History,_ of all books, as her eyelids fluttered was getting more difficult by the moment. There was no way she could afford it. Her friend needed to find someone there for him when he woke up and she couldn't risk falling back into the hell of her sub-consciousness. It wasn't an option, not when she wasn't sure if she would have it in her to wake back up again after another nightmare.

* * *

Watching Ron's confliction over the last few days was the better than any of the other Christmas gifts Fred had received that day. Immediately after he had told his little brother about him and Hermione, he had seemed shockingly calm. He'd said nothing for the rest of their lunch and had kept that way almost until they closed the shop. Then the questions had begun.

He asked things ranging from the little technicalities like 'how did she get out of the castle' to the more sticky ones that made him stutter just trying to ask. Fred answered most of them, with more detail than necessary, just to watch him squirm. The ones he refused to answer were either inappropriate things he just didn't want to share with his little brother, or private that he never intended to tell anyone other than Hermione.

Only when the questions started to grate his nerves on Christmas eve, did Ron have another change of heart. He could tell that his brother was trying to hide it, but he was _pissed._

He wasn't sure if it was directed at him or Hermione, maybe both, maybe neither. Ronnie always had the tendency to get mad at himself for not having seen things others so clearly had. Who he was upset with didn't matter though. What mattered what that he was dropping products and snapping at annoyed customers- all during George's shift. Fred would be lying if he didn't admit it was a little funny.

The anger had boiled down by Christmas morning, to what seemed like an awkward tension as they unwrapped their gifts in the burrow's living room.

Ginny was home just for a few days, so sitting down there nearly felt like when they were kids again. Back when only their first three brother's had gone to Hogwarts, and they were anxiously awaiting their own letters. For the first time in his life, he opened up the maroon and orange sweater with a smile, and a thank you to his mother. There was no way it would fit- they hadn't in years- but it really was the thought that counts.

Only when he locked gazes with Ron at lunch, and caught a glimpse of his baby sister's red rimmed eyes, did he wake up from his Christmas induced haze. He wasn't complaining, there was still a war going on, and he needed to be focused. Still it was nice to have a few hours with a brand new Weasley sweater in his lap, a cup of eggnog in warming his hands, and his family around him- if only to serve as a small distraction.

That was all gone by the time he walked back into the apartment. There was supposed to be a special Christmas radio show tonight, and since both Ron and Gin would be coming he had to start making food so he could fit in his afternoon nap before they came over. Which meant he had to clean all the potions supplies littering the countertop from yesterday.

It had been forever since he spent time developing the products, and despite how he'd hated it when their business was booming, it had calmed him down some yesterday. All of his papers were spread out to the left of the stove, and his ingredients on the right. They were a mass of ideas that had been building for months without any output. He had been so disorganized in trying to test them all that he doubted any of the four potions he had made would be any success.

First he gathered the papers, and did his best to group them according to what they were on. Then piece by piece he put up each ingredient, and froze what he'd already cut up. A quick spell set most of the dirtied containers to clean, and then came the difficult part.

Since he wasn't sure exactly how much of what he had put into each pot, he didn't know what would happen when he opened each. They might have solidified into cold blocks, burned the inside of his cauldron, or perhaps they would explode when he opened them. Whatever it was didn't change that he needed to clean them all out.

What most people didn't know was that if the twins were ever to be mugged, the robber shouldn't go for the cash register, or the storeroom products, but rather if they were really smart, they would take out the downstairs sink, and the upstairs bathtub. They were by far the two most expensive things the twins owned, and for good reason. The products they made and meddled with required a little more than a 7th year potions class would. The metal in the bowls was co-forged by wizards and goblins to ensure nothing could burn through them. They were ridiculously expensive, but from the amount of times he had spilled something at the burrow that burned right through the floor, he knew they were far worth it.

He only wished they had been smart enough to put one in the kitchen as well. Now since he couldn't risk using a _Wingardium Leviosa_ on the unknown substances he had to pull them into the bathroom on his own.

The first three went by as smoothly as you could get when you were dealing with cauldrons full of unknown substances. They had all remained as a liquid overnight, and their pots were small compared to what he usually used. The worst he got was a puff of blue smoke out of one and a little time scrubbing at the gluey substance resting in the bottom of another.

The last would be his real challenge, it was twice the size of the others and from the way he pushed at it earlier and it hadn't budged- likely very heavy. But it needed to be done. So he grit his teeth, took the pot by both hands and heaved. There was a real struggle getting it out of the kitchen and through the living room to the hallway- and a moment where his wand fell from his pocket just as he thought he was going to drop the pot. He swore he thought he was about to split his wand in two, but then the Weasley caught himself just in time, with only a few swearwords to give away that anything had happened at all.

Finally resting the cauldron in the shiny white tub, Fred backtracked to retrieve his wand and returned.

"Alright let's see," he murmured, not for the first time wishing Hermione was here to help him figure out what he had likely done wrong.

He opened the cauldron and huffed. The thing had completely solidified overnight, it looked like a smooth pink balm resting halfway up the pot's volume. The wizard leaned in and took a deep breath. Just lilac, castor oil, honey, and that small hint of boom berry he had added. If his nose was right, this was the pot he had been attempting to make their dreamless sleep potion in, only with an added kick. The likelihood that it would burn him on contact was small, so Fred reached in and swept two fingers over the surface.

The substance came away just as he had expected- thin and unnoticeable. However he couldn't feel the tingling you were supposed to get when you spilled dreamless sleep on yourself. Perhaps it wouldn't work at all with his added ingredients. That didn't really matter quite yet because he needed to figure out first how to make it liquid again so it would be actually consumable by his customers.

He took another swipe at the thing- this time with his whole palm- and rubbed it into his hands. Worst come to worst he would have a nightmare during his nap. He had been the tester of a million products thus far, and that wouldn't be the worst thing to have happened to him as a lab rat.

After rubbing some on, he looked down at the pot again. George would be home soon, ready for his shower and then his own afternoon nap, but he really didn't want to bother cleaning this thing out, especially if he was really going to test it on himself. With a shrug he scraped at the surface one last time and rubbed it on his hands and arms.

That's when it started tingling. Not on his hands, but on the top of his wrists, there was a prickling feeling. He turned to look at it and saw nothing, and then realized that there was in fact nothing there. As far as he had rubbed the balm up his arm, there was no hair.

He wiped what was left on his hand over his forearm and watched in fascination as the fine copper hairs withered away. Hopefully that would be the last of the burning the thing did to him, because the longer he stood there staring at this thing, the more tired he became. The wizard bent down and replaced the lid, and then left the room.

He had gotten into the habit of fixing his bed when Hermione was coming over, and as soon as she had left the habit had died off. But that morning he had woken up much earlier than George, and so his bed was made and looked very inviting, as well as ironic. A year ago he'd much preferred loose sheets and a pile of pillows to the orderly setting most used, and somehow in those few months with her he'd retrained his brain to love a made bed. He wished he could say he didn't believe it was an association he'd created.

But it was, because his mind immediately flew to Hermione. Just as it had the last few times he'd done this. Unlike those last few times though, he let the thought simmer in his mind. It was Christmas, and he could practically see her lying in his sheets, curls spread over his pillows.

So he pulled down the sheets and made sure to lie on the right side, opposite of how she always chose, and pulled a pillow down to curl around it. It was not the same, but it might be as close as he ever got again.

* * *

Handing Harry over his wand had gone as smoothly as she had expected. Now they were trading off time with hers. Which meant she could have her wand or get some sleep by allowing Harry to take watch. Not that it made it very easy to fall asleep knowing you had no way of defending yourself if you were to be woken up by hooded figures.

But she was so exhausted. Hours of watching over Harry just to ensure he woke up had drained her both physically and mentally. And the mere fact that she knew that it was Christmas- that at that very same time the previous year she was warm, clean, nicely dressed, and being well fed at the Weasley family table- just seemed to put fire to flame.

The witch pushed down the gnawing in her stomach that said her thigh holster was empty, and crawled into one of the bunks not caring exactly whose it was.

* * *

 _She was_ there. _He wasn't sure how, or why, but he could feel her pressed against him. She was warm and made his sheets smell like cinnamon._

 _He couldn't help it, he hated to wake her, but it had been too long not to ask her to open her eyes, to speak to him. Fred tightened his arms around her and kissed her shoulder._

" _Herm, Herms wake up" he whispered, praying it wasn't his drowsy brain fooling him into believing what down he was seeing. "Open your eyes love"_

 _Slowly she turned, and gave him a sleepy smile. "Breakfast better be ready" she murmured her eyes opening in just the smallest slits._

 _Instead of answering, Fred surged forward, and rolled his body atop hers, catching her lips like it was the first time he'd breathed since march._

 _Deciding what to do next was terrible, because she was pressing back against him, hands curled on his neck, but he didn't just want to kiss her, he needed to hear her talk, tell him she was okay and that she wouldn't leave again. In the end he didn't even get to make the call._

George burst into the room, and Fred jerked in his sheets.

"What the fuck did you leave in our tub mate?" was the first thing he twin said, "Lee, Angie, Ron, and Gin are all going to be here in two hours and I can't take a shower."

"I'll move it." he muttered, sitting up and rubbing the sleep from his eyes. "Just don't throw it out…"

"What is it?"

By that point though Fred wasn't listening. He was pushing himself out of the sheets and running to the bathroom. The pot was exactly as he had left it, and he sighed.

"What it is the damn cauldron Freddy" George asked for the third time, sounding aggravated.

"It's my altercation of the dreamless sleep potion" He said grinning down at it. "I think it works"

He was overjoyed, they hadn't successfully completed a new product in months, but when he looked over at his twin, he found George frowning.

"What?"

The other Weasley shrugged "We've been talking about that one for a month now, I assumed we could work on it together during the week we closed"

He stared at George confused "We haven't completed a potion together since we left Hogwarts"

"I thought only because we didn't have the time"

"We've had the time for months," Fred scoffed, crossing his arms and turning to face his twin "I assumed you'd be too busy with Angelina this week, you haven't spent a single one of your days off anywhere other than her place."

"That doesn't mean I never want to spend time with you ever again, Forge," he snapped.

"I can't exactly tell when you're in the mood to see your own twin now can I, Gred?" He responded with just the same amount of spite.

"Try anytime you're not aiming to kill our little brother or moping around because you went after the one girl I told you was a bad idea."

Fred grit his teeth "Don't talk about her like that, Hermione can't be claimed by Ron."

"No she can't, but you can't do that to her either. You are never going to have her, she's too bloody s _pastic_ ," He spat and the other Weasley took a step back, "anybody that's such good friends with Harry Potter has to be. She's never going to stay constant and you're not going to be able to keep up with a witch like that Freddy. I _told_ you she was a bad idea"

"Shut your fucking mouth George" he growled "If you think for a second that if we got sent back to 7th year I wouldn't go down to see her in the room of requirement again, you're a moron."

"Why, why would you do that?" He had his eyes scrunched closed, a dumbfounded expression smearing across his features. "She's done nothing except drive you mad for years, get us in trouble at school, force you into a secret that you had to keep from most of your own siblings, and leave you to go on a death mission"

The words his brother was throwing at him felt like punches to the gut. There were logical, the side Fred usually took while George was always standing there, his emotional counterpart.

Finally he opened his dry mouth and found the words "She never wanted us in trouble at school, the secret was a _mutual_ decision, she left because she's smart enough to recognize that the death eater's would sniff her out in a week if she stayed here, and she drove me mad for years because I love her _you dumbass_."

It was George's turn to look stunned "You've never told me that about her,"

"The fuck did you think, that all this shit has been over some silly school crush"

"I thought it was just that thing," he spoke at the floor "That you have a tendency to do"

"Thing?" He did not believe the answer would be anything good.

George shook his head "When you're told you can't have something, it just makes you want it more, and you don't stop until you get it."

Blue eyes went wide and he growled "She's not a piece of cake,"

"I assumed…."

"Stop assuming. Don't assume I like Hermione just because she's difficult, and don't assume I'm going to know things about when you want to do what. Talk to me or-"

"Or what?"

"Or we need to figure out how to run a business living in separate homes."

There it was. The thing that everything had been boiling down to for months. They'd lived together all their lives and it had never been a problem before, but they were adults now. Adults who had only a relatively small flat to split. Adults who would want families in the next ten years, with separate houses and more than one shop. They had always known it was going to happen, maybe it just needed to happen a little sooner.

Maybe it was time to be apart.

The thought didn't scare him like it used to, but George looked like he would vomit.

"You want to what?" he croaked, his features looking like they were on the edge of shattering.

"Like I said before" he began standing tall, and trying to pull himself together better than his brother was "You're never home, we don't see each other but a few times a week. Why shouldn't we?"

"I do the cleaning, you do the cooking" he murmured and though he didn't seem to really be speaking to Fred, he responded anyway.

"We need to learn to do both for ourselves"

"We run the shop together"

"I'm not saying we won't work together, but a second shop wouldn't be bad would it"

There was quiet for another few moments as George looked to be on the verge of crying, which meant Fred too had tears forming in the corners of his eyes.

"What if we don't come out of this war Freddy," he whispered "Or, Merlin forbid, what if only one of us comes out, and we didn't even spend our last year together."

"That's not going to happen" he swore "But if it makes you feel better I won't bring it up again until you-know-poo is gone for good"

"Please," George asked and held out a hand. They'd made agreements like this since they were too little to remember.

Fred shook it, and then moved forward to hug his twin. "Next potion we do together yeah?"

* * *

 **AN: Another reminder, I** _ **REALLY**_ **would like a beta. So if your even slightly interested PM me and we'll talk it over.**

 **Review please!**

 **Love you guys.**

 **Mel**


	6. Chapter 6

**Lost and Found: Chapter Six**

He was barely processing what Lee was saying. Ginn kept asking him questions, but he was mostly turning them over to George. Most of the radio shows he was sitting on the couch- directly next to what Lee called 'The magic'- so he could hear every word. Today he had barely made supper before their three guests arrived, and the entire time he's been thinking about his potion.

Was it a coincidence that the hair had disintegrated, or that he had dreamt of exactly what he'd been fantasizing before lying down. If it wasn't how exactly did it work. Did he have a time limit on what he had to think of. Was it the potion that had made him so drowsy or had that just been natural from waking up at 6am and having a busy morning. Was it the rubbing it into his hands that caused it, or was it the hair. Could he use it on someone without ever touching their skin, but so long as he had a piece of their hair?

He barely noticed when the show had ended. In fact he was only pulled out of it, when Lee shook his shoulder.

"What's- for – dinner? He pronounced slowly, too close to Fred's ear for comfort.

He jerked in his chair and looked up at his friends. Before he could answer Ron was calling from the kitchen "Meatballs! They're in the pot."

The group began moving to the kitchen, and George offered him a hand to help him stand. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah" he answered looking carefully at his twin. "Are you?"

"I'm, fine. I was just worried about you, after the… restroom."

He lowered his voice, to ensure he wasn't heard from the kitchen "I'm not really considering moving away mate, at least not for the next couple of years"

"I know" George answered quickly. "I know that, you just scared me is all"

"Don't be scared Georgie…." He was teasing his brother, but he was scared shitless. This was war, he had known that much for years, but now it felt dangerously close. They kept talking about their lives, like every time they mentioned having kids or moving out there wasn't a possibility they would never make it that far.

They entered the kitchen, and he saw that their three guests were already helping themselves to what little food he had left on the stovetop.

"Just meatballs, really mate?" Lee laughed rolling up his sleeves and picking up a plate.

"Do you not know me better than that," he asked playfully offended, and pulled open the cupboard to pull out all the plates he had prepared that day and left warming charms on.

"You are definitely kin to Molly Weasley" the dark wizard laughed, watching as he levitated out plate after plate of glorious holiday food.

"It's Christmas, and you thought I was going to serve fucking meatballs." He shook his head and sat down next to his sister.

All five of them ate as though it was one of their last days, which in a way it most certainly could have been. Fred wouldn't put it past any death eaters to attack on a holiday.

When the last spoonful of potatoes had been taken and his twin had shoved down the final roll, Fred stood to grab the dessert. He had left his carefully made chocolate fudge cake and eggnog in the fridge.

With a flick of his wand he sent the cake to the table, and watched with a snort as Ron's eyes widened and he licked his lips. Then he carried the pot full of eggnog to the counter, so he could place a perfect warming charm on it, when a thought occurred to him.

Just a glance back and a few moments was all it took to pour his own glass and dump and entire potion of sleeping draught in the rest. Then, as though he had done nothing, he sent that over to the eager adults as well. They attacked it just as they all had the rest of his food. He sipped his own cup in satisfaction, watching as they drank and slowly- one by one- fell asleep in their chairs.

They had drank just enough each to be out for an hour or so, but that was all he really needed. With a flourish he pulled out four plastic bags from the kitchen drawer, and went around the table, plucking hair from each person as he went, and being careful to label their respective bags.

He was going to figure out exactly how his new potion worked tonight, and would apologize to them all in the morning.

 _The twins apartment was strangely clean. He'd never really seen it this way, not even the first time mum had gone over had they cleaned it. It was as though they were trying to impress someone…_

 _It was also quiet. Neither of the boys were to be seen. He ducked his head into the storage room door and found nothing, Fred wasn't in the kitchen, George wasn't sleeping on the couch. Would they be at the burrow? A feeling told him they wouldn't be, and they wouldn't be working either. Which meant they had to be in one of the bedrooms. He couldn't quite place why, but he needed to find one of them, they had to help him._

 _George's room was empty, and a press of his ear to the bathroom door told him it was likely vacant as well. That left only Fred's room. Just walking up he could hear movement from the other side, and shoved the door open._

 _He certainly found one of the twins. The only issue was he didn't think they planned to come up for air any time soon. His older brother had his lips attached to a mass of thick brown curls that Ron would recognize anywhere._

 _Though he had known of the two, he hadn't ever taken the time to think about it. Now it was in front of him and he wasn't sure if he needed to puke or scream. Instead he backed out of the room, and slammed the door._

 _He closed his eyes and tried to shut the image out of his head. But it didn't help, the image was pressed to the back of his eyelids. It seemed to be endless, until Fred lightly detached himself with a whispered 'one moment love' and turned to face him._

 _"Wake up Ronnie"_

"Wake up!"

He opened his eyes and found himself lying in the middle of the twins living room.

"Why am I on the floor" he breathed, looking up into Fred's face.

"What did you dream about?" His brother demanded.

His mind went right back to what he'd dreamt of and he sat up, covering his mouth to try and stop the puke. It was like finding Harry and Ginny in the boy's dorms, all over again.

When he had regained some composure he looked around. Fred was asking about his dream again, but he was focused on the other three people in the room. George, Ginny, and Lee were all asleep on the couch and armchairs.

"What did you put in the food?" Ron asked bewildered.

"I put sleeping draught in the eggnog." His head snapped to look at his brother. "I had an experiment I needed to try out."

"On Christmas?"

"Yes!" Fred hissed his eyes wide "Now what did you dream about, quick before the others wake up"

He could feel his face twist and murmured "You and Hermione, in your bedroom…"

Fred's features split into a grin. "That's exactly what I was thinking of"

He stood from the floor and rushed over to the couch where Ginny was lying to shake her awake as well. He asked the same questions as he had Ron, but when their sister answered she muttered something about a park in muggle London.

"What is this about" Ginny muttered walking over to him and wiping away at the crust in the corners of her eyes.

"He used us as testers for one of their new products"

"They haven't made a new product in months, why would he do this today."

He shrugged and looked up. George was pulling himself from the chair, just as Fred was waking Lee.

The twin had had friend held by the shoulders and was hissing "Your dream, what was it!"

"Italian music" he screamed, jerking away from Fred's grasp. "Some weird bloody Italian music, on loop on a record player"

By now he looked nearly mad as he turned to his twin with a glimmer in his eye that reminded Ron scarily of Dumbledore. "You dream?"

"Flying" George growled "With a girl clutching my waist"

He didn't think he'd ever seen Fred look more delighted. The man grabbed his twin's shoulders and laughed "It worked Georgie it worked!"

"Why did you do this, especially today for fucks sake Fred!"

"I needed it done by the end of the day, if I wanted to use it" Fred explained, not seeming and less enthused.

"We swore when we left Hogwarts we'd never test anybody without consent, again."

"It was an emergency" Fred groaned. "Besides I already tried it on myself this afternoon, I knew it wasn't dangerous, I just didn't know how it worked."

"Merlin, how do you not see what's wrong with this" George sneered.

Fred turned to Ginny "Do you care that I tested on you?"

Their youngest sibling held up her hands "I'm not getting in the middle of this."

"But you don't really care do you?" Fred demanded. "Or you'd be upset"

"What do you even need the product so badly for?" He asked, finally speaking.

All four of them watched as Fred's face scrunched up "Hermione, I need to talk to Hermione"

Ron's turned to look at Ginny, but she didn't look at surprised as he felt. "Did you know about those two?"

His sister snorted and glanced at George "You two told him"

"Freddy did"

"Did everyone know except me" heat was rushing to his face.

"Everyone knew save for you and you mum" Lee groaned, and stood from the chair he'd been asleep in. "I'm going to eat some more, come get me when your family shit is over" he murmured shuffling towards the kitchen.

"Don't tell mum" Fred asked "And I'm sorry for testing on you all, I just needed to know that it would work"

"That what exactly would work" Ginny asked exasperated.

"My new product, you can control a person's dreams, so long as you have a piece of their hair."

Ron's breath caught in his throat and his eyes narrowed "You have some of Mione's hair?" He'd been trying a million different ways to try and find Harry and Hermione for weeks. Every second he had off working the shop, and half the nights he was supposed to be asleep he'd been down in the storage room trying to figure out a way to _find_ them again. So he could get rid of the rock that had been sitting at the bottom of his stomach sine he'd left them. Having some of Hermione's hair would have made the whole ordeal ten times easier. He could be _with them_ by now.

"She left of brush here" Fred said "And now that I know the potion works, I can send her a message."

"How about trying to find them" Ron said, on the verge of screaming "Why would you waste that on _dreams_."

"You don't think I haven't already tried everything?" His brother yelled right back, crossing his arms. "You think I've just been sitting around on my arse from the moment she left"

"I haven't see you do anything."

"I spent every spare moment I had for a month, after you lot left, trying to track you down." He spat "And you know what I can to realize after that month"

"That it wasn't worth it anymore" Ron sneered.

"That it wasn't possible," His older brother snapped "Hermione's spells cut off everything. She's too brilliant to let any death eaters in, and we don't have half the resources they do."

"But you have the hairbrush"

Now he snorted "If you want to try the myriad of tracking spells there are with her hair, be my guest. I've already done them all, and I wouldn't mind watching them explode in _your_ face too."

He was unintentionally gripping the deluminator in his pocket and grinding his teeth together. The longer he stared at his brother the more he wanted to hit him.

For the first time in a few minutes George spoke "Go sleep at mum and dads tonight Ron"

He didn't need anything more than, and within seconds he was apparating into his old bedroom, where he could finally breath once more.

 _Never in her life, had Hermione felt so at ease, on a broom. There was no churning in her stomach, and she didn't start shaking after looking down. It was just smooth riding. Two arms were wrapped around her waist, holding her steady as she directed the broom. The witch was doing swerves and dives, twists and turns like she'd seen Harry do a million times. The air was forcing its way into her lungs, helping her breathe once more in a way she'd never thought would be possible again after she had obliviated her parents._

 _"Herm" The warm whisper in her ear made her turn around. There he was. Dark blue eyes gazes down at her and he asked "Hermione, are you okay"_

 _Her brow furrowed for a moment, she couldn't figure out why he had said that. Before she could reassure Fred (that of course she was fine- she was with him) he spoke again._

 _"I'm not going to be able to hear your answer, but I'm praying to Merlin you're alright."_

 _"Fred what are you talking about"_

 _He spoke like he hadn't heard her. "I'm fine right now. Between the wards on the apartment and the burrow no one has been able to get to us. And Merlin I wish you had stayed and let the wards keep you safe too."_

 _He was becoming more confusing by the second, but also less foggy. It was like her mind was trying to break through some barrier it had set up. She only couldn't figure out what was on the other side._

 _"I wanted to tell you that I'm sorry as well. I'm sorry I was ever so mean to Ron, I really am, and I'm trying to work on it, especially since he's been living with me"_

 _The ending of his sentence struck something in her, and in the back of her mind she could see something fuzzy. They were like woods and the sound of rain._

 _"Please, please come home love. Ron knows everything, I told him, and I think he's going to get used to it-eventually. And I really miss you, please come back to me so I can tell you in person."_

 _Now she could feel dirt under her feet, and with a slow blink Fred wasn't even there anymore, just his voice._

 _"If I don't ever see you again, I don't want you to think I don't still love you"_

 _The rain was pouring down around her and she was running so fast she could feel her heartbeat with each step. There was a red blur in front of her, and just as she thought her hand would catch Ron's shirt-he dissaperated._

 _"I love you Hermione"_

The faint red glow of her alarm clock told her it was still Christmas. There were tears in her eyes, but a smile on her lips.

 **AN: This is really short, and I apologize, especially because it's been longer than usual since I posted. My school schedule has gotten three times as busy between my classwork load and my winter sports. I will keep updating, but I'm not sure how frequent or how long they will be. By mid- January my schedule should clear and I should be posting more regularly. Until then, I am very sorry and I promise I will update as much as I can.**

 **Also to everyone that messaged me about being my beta. Thank you so much! I have been wanting a beta for a while and I suddenly got 8 messages with offers, but now that I know I won't be updating weekly for a while, I don't think its fair to ask a beta to keep with my schedule when I can't even do it. If any of you 8 REALLY want to and can edit a chapter in a day, then I'm open, but I honestly don't think it would be fair to demand that of any of you all.**

 **Love you guys,**

 **Mel**


	7. Chapter 7

Her lip was quivering it was so cold. She and Harry had just switched positions for patrol, but the chill had already reached her bones. Still, her wand was good company. She hadn't thought of the simple wood as a luxury to her since she received it first year. Now that it was taken from her every few hours she treated it like the pleasure it truly was. Holding it in her palm was an indulgence, not a right.

It was an indulgence no muggle in the world would ever enjoy. She'd nearly forgotten that, but the quiet she sat in with Harry had left her time to remember. It was remember her past, or get shoved roughly into the stress that was her present. That or sleep, and honestly though her sleep had become more restful than ever before, she was terrified of doing so.

Every time she had closed her eyes there were two options. The bloodied faces of her family and friends, or Fred's arms holding her closely as they swayed in the center of the Burrows Garden. She never knew which she would get, and while one would leave her shaking in her bunk with silent cries, the other made her wake up warm and lazy- wanting nothing more than to lie in bed all day.

Not to mention the acheing that sat in her chest when she did choose to get up from her lazy stupors. A week ago she would have killed half the hufflepuff class just to see Fred's face one last time, but now that she was seeing it constantly she just wanted to burn the image from her mind. Seeing him, but never quite reaching him just left her upset and with higher cravings.

It didn't help that she was practically alone out here now. Between Ron's absence, their turns taking watch, and that damn book Harry had picked up from Bathilda's home, she had few chances throughout the day to speak to anyone.

The boy had become engrossed over the week. She had read the first chapter with Grindlewald alongside Harry, but that had only ended up in an argument. Since she had allowed her best friend to fall through the pages on his own. It seemed each time he looked up from it he was angrier than before, but she could do nothing to stop him.

Still, she had a feeling in the pit of her stomach, that if he kept on like this, she would be forced to begin another fight with him. Perhaps she would have to get rid of the thing herself before Harry tore himself apart over it.

She bit her lip to stop the chattering and looked out over the clearing. The witch was about to go on inside seeing that it was nearly daylight and she was practically covered in snow- despite the continuous warming charms- but something in the tree line caught her eye. A few minutes later she spotted another movement. It was still dark enough that she couldn't tell if it was an animal or not, but they hadn't seen any little creatures since the heavy snows began a few weeks ago.

Her breath hitched as she caught sight of it again, this time it looked scarily like the movement of a cloak in wind. It took only a small twitch of her wand to summon the Sneakoscope. The thing did little good to her. The clearing looked just the same as it had before. After twenty minutes looked out with it pressed to her eye she sighed and set the thing down.

Harry came out not long after that and wrapped his cloak around her shoulders. Daybreak had washed over them now, and she hadn't seen anything since before retrieving the Sneakoscope, but when her friend suggested they go on and pack up to leave, she jumped at the chance.

Less than an hour later they had everything packed away in her bag and he was taking her hand to apparate under the invisibility cloak. She knew the second they landed that she hadn't been truly thinking about where they were going, and neither had Harry, because they were back in the Forest of Dean.

At first Harry said nothing to her about their location. The two unpacked as quietly as they did everything else nowadays. It got to a point where she was sure he had either not noticed or not cared. After all this wasn't the first time they had camped in the same area twice. It might not mean anything to Harry, where it meant everything to her. If her years of friendship with him had taught her anything about the chosen one, it was that he was not too observant when it came to emotions.

But then again he was always surprising her wasn't he. As they finished setting up the fire, and he placed a pot of water with chicken stock to boil, he spoke.

"You miss them?" Her friend was looking around at the woods and she knew who he was speaking about before he continued "Your family"

It took her a moment to gather the breath for the words "Of course, you miss yours don't you?"

"Yeah, I suppose your right" he leaned over and stirred in the few edible herbs she had gathered before they left the last area.

The sun had just began rising, if she remembered correctly they had gone west of where they had been before, so it made sense for daylight to just then be hitting them. Still it felt strange. Like they were in another universe completely. A universe where Harry Potter and Hermione Granger could simply take a stroll through the woods, or go on a weekend camping trip as friends.

"Did you tell them much about us" She wasn't expecting more questions, having already reached their average daily conversation time, and it took her a few seconds to process what he had asked her.

"Oh, no not really," she murmured "Wizarding things have a tendency to confuse muggles, I suppose you wouldn't know, I doubt you ever tried to explain to the Dursley's"

"No I didn't, I never thought it was worth my time"

"Well I tried for the first couple summers. It just doesn't work. They simply don't understand even the concepts of it, and my parents aren't stupid…."

"Of course" Harry laughed and hearing it felt like she was back in the common room with him talking about Dumbledore or his latest talk with Cho Chang. "They gave birth to the smartest Witch of her age, I don't think they're anything less than brilliant."

She gave him a weak smile for the compliment. "But they'll never understand Magic. Its wasn't made for their minds, I've tried everything. I used to give mum my schoolbooks so I could talk to her about my subjects but she only ended up further confused. I once tried to explain the floo network to my dad, and he looked utterly bewildered by the time I was done" She gave a sniffle thinking about it and continued "By fourth year I gave up completely, it's why I always came to Ron's house before summer was even half over. They would ask me questions about school and I just couldn't keep lying to them."

"Did you ever tell them about the war?"

She shook her head and reached up to wipe the stray tear caused by both the cold and the discussion. "I told them about the first war, and how you were famous, but I didn't tell them anything about us getting into the thick of it. Last time I was home I had to have McGonagall do a concealment charm on me, for the scars on my stomach that were left after we broke into the ministry."

"I always figured you didn't let them in on much" Harry spoke softly looking down at her "I never knew you went that far though. I'm sorry I've managed to drag you into the thick of it all these years."

"No Harry it's my world too, my life. I have every right to fight for it."

"But it's not theirs"

"No it's not"

* * *

His relationship with Ron had always been shaky to say the least. They had never quite gotten along, even as small children. Of course everyone had issues with Ron once and a while since he was the youngest brother, and was blamed for every broken toy. Not to mention he had all of mum's favoritism as her 'baby boy'.

But he and Fred had been a particularly nasty pair. It might not have been weird had George not liked him either, but he had always loved on their younger brother. When Fred had jumped around corners to scare him, George had handed over his last chocolate frog to stop him from crying. Maybe that's why Fred _didn't_ like him, he was so used to his twin going along with whatever he did, but he broke that cycle with Ron. That's what he had thought when he was younger, but the past year had taught him otherwise.

All the Weasleys were competitive, and most (save Percy) were _extremely_ possessive. It was a mere side-effect of growing up in a family that was so large you had to fight for your peas at supper. He and Ron though, were by far the worst two in their family. They had argued over the smallest things, and butt heads worse than a pair of bulls.

That had been made clear to him this past year. Perhaps they were too different to get along, perhaps they were too similar. Either way the they didn't mix well, and having the other male, once again, living with him was making him go mental. It got to the point where he considered packing up his old Hogwarts trunk and telling Mum and Dad that for the rest of his time off he would be staying with them.

In fact just as he walked in the door to the apartment and set down his bags, ready to voice this idea to George, his twin had something else to tell him.

"He's gone"

Fred's brow furrowed. "What do you mean he's gone?"

"I found the couch empty this morning, and this was in the blankets." George reached out with a scrap of parchment in his fingers.

Fred took it and read in Ron's awful handwriting _'I found them'_.

"I already checked with all the relatives to make sure he didn't stop by there. No one's seen him since we did last night"

His hand curled around the parchment into a fist. "Do you really think he found them?"

"It's possible, he did know exactly what spells they were using to cover themselves."

"Then why wouldn't that bastard tell us? He knows that I was trying to get to them just as much as he was."

George shrugged "Why _would_ he tell you mate, the three of them all decided to leave together, why would he want you to tag along now."

He knew it was true, and it made sense, but it didn't stop him from gritting his teeth and hoping that the fool was wandering the woods, wondering what he had done wrong.

* * *

 _And then the source of the light stepped out from behind an oak. It was a silver-white doe, moon-bright and dazzling, picking her way over the ground, still silent, and leaving no hoofprints in the fine powdering of snow. She stepped toward him, her beautiful head with its wide, long-lashed eyes held high._

 _Harry stared at the creature, filled with wonder, not at her strangeness, but at her inexplicable familiarity. He felt that he had been waiting for her to come, but that he had forgotten, until this moment, that they had arranged to meet. His impulse to shout for Hermione, which had been so strong a moment ago, had gone. He knew, he would have staked his life on it, that she had come for him, and him alone. They gazed at each other for several long moments and then she turned and walked away._

" _No," he said, and his voice was cracked with lack of use. "Come back!"_

She made no movement as though she had heard him and began to leave just the way she had appeared, and it didn't take Harry but seconds to jump up from the snow covered ground and run after her. She was twisting through the trees now, a graciously as if it were a flat quidditch pitch, meanwhile Harry was fumbling after her. He pushed through branches and bushes, fell over rocks and roots in his pursuit. A few times he thought he had lost her, but that light always hit his eyes just as he thought she was gone. It was so blinding he was sure that he could have seen it in another country altogether.

By the time she began to slow down his chest was heaving, he was sure he had run for a mile at the very least, and was far past Hermione's wards. Just as he began to contemplate how in Merlin's pants he would get back the doe caught his eye again, and all concerns were lost with it. She looked at him with a tilted head, and began walking forward. Harry felt the deep longing to ask her something, but he didn't know quite what. Still he opened his mouth, and just like that, she vanished.

The pitch black of the night returned, but her image still bore in the back of his mind.

"Lumos" Hermione's wand tip lit and he spun, his eyes searching everything within the light's reach. He'd expected someone, perhaps an ambush- but no figures emerged from the darkness, and no spells hit him in the back. As his breathing began to even he looked around once more. Nothing, she was gone and there was no one in sight to tell him why he was there.

It looked like she had led him to a rather large clearing for a moment, there were no trees for at least 20 yards all around him, and as he looked down he saw why. A muddled black surface stared up at him, glimmering in the light of the wand. It was a lake, frozen over in the dead of winter. He was nearly in its center.

The chosen one started to lift his head back up, to see if there was anything else here, any reason for him to have been brought, but then his eyes caught on a glimmer under the ice. Just a few feet away from him something shimmered beneath the grey slush. He stepped closer and got on his knees. It looked like it was in the shape of a cross, and something red glinted on one end…

Harry's breath hitched and he sat up just as realization dawned upon him. The sword, it was there, and he was meant to retrieve it. For a moment he sat on his knees, staring down at it wondering why it was there, but that didn't matter to him for very long.

He stood, and spoke a weak 'accio sword', but he had known it would not work. The sword came to Gryffindors, those who needed it and deserved it. He would have to earn it.

After casting a spell to break a hole in the ice just large enough, he began pulling off the countless layers he had pulled on that morning. When he stood in nothing left but his underwear and the locket that Hermione had not yet noticed he kept on, he glanced down. The hilt was not far at all, but not close enough that he could avoid submerging himself.

The airs chill was really beginning to get to him, so he dropped Hermione's wand onto the pile of his clothes, prepared himself for just a moment, and then he dove.

The cold hit like a brick wall and his entire body wailed from the torture it was enduring. Still the sword glittered up at him and he pushed through. The darkness swallowed him up and surrounded him like millions of needs picking at his skin. The boy could hardly think, yet his body seemed to remember the task and his hand closed around the sword's hilt. With the first yank, came a tightening at his through and he feared that he would have to resurface for breath, and come back for another go.

That wasn't it at all though. The Horcrux's chain was rapidly tightening around his windpipes. His first instincts told him to pull at the damn thing, but it had sensed the sword now and would not let him go. He gnashed in the water and opened his mouth for breath, but only icy water burned down to his lungs, it was no use, and now his vision was starting to go. His body stilled as he looked down at the sword with little white dots obscuring his vision, remembering that Hermione once told him drowning was peaceful. First you fight, and then you can't anymore and you just let go. The sword was right there, but the necklace was overtaking him and water had filled every cavity of his lungs, and he couldn't fight any longer. Something was greeting him, colder than the water in a way he hadn't thought was possible, but it was inviting, like an old friend he'd missed too long.

His vision finally turned black, and he allowed himself to be embraced by deaths arms.

The next he knew, someone was ripping him out, away from the hands still trying to pull him in, and out of the water. His body landed on the frozen lake, quivering and heaving up water. Over his own hacking he could hear someone else still panting. Perhaps the person who had sent the doe had known he wouldn't make it after all. Or maybe it was Hermione, come to save him, as she always seemed to do.

His body was too exhausted to so much as lift himself up, if it were a death eater wanting to finish him off themselves then they would simply have to do so with his back turned to them. Still as his forehead hit icy ground his hands reached for his neck and found the bloodied slit where the locket had dug in. Whoever it was must not have wanted him dead after all.

" _Are- You –Mental?"_ The voice was like electric shock, and made his head snap up to see for himself, as though he'd imagined it.

Standing above him was Ron. His layers of clothing and hair plastered to his skin from the water, and the sword hanging limply in his right hand, and the horcrux gripped in his left. His skin looked blue and he was panting.

"Why the hell" he continued, as Harry pushed himself up, mesmerized by the sight, just as he had been the doe. "Did you not take this off before you went under?" Ron swung the locket in front of his face as he spoke.

He couldn't answer, and only the cold pulled him away from Ron as he scrambled to pull on his discarded layers of clothing. "It was you-" he fumbled, bewildered because he was positive Ron's patronus was a Terrier. "how did you?"

"I pulled you out, and the sword worked on the locket…"

"No" he said with a furrowed brow and pulled on his final coat. "The patronus?"

"I thought it was you!" Ron said looking as confused as Harry felt.

"Mine's a Stag"

"Right, no antlers, I thought it seemed different." He mumbled as Harry bent to retrieve Hermione's wand and the pouch Hagrid had given him.

"How're you here"

There was a moment of silence and then Ron seemed to straighten and did his best to look up from the ground at Harry's face. "I've come back.. to help, if you'll have me"

Harry blinked a few times, remembering the rage he had felt the night Ron had left, but then he looked down at the lake, and back at his friend. He had just saved him, risked his own life for Harry just as he'd been doing since first year.

Just as he was about to assure, that of course Ron was welcome back, the redhead lifted the items in his hands. "I got this out as well, its why you dove isn't it?"

"Yeah" he answered softly, still staring at Ron's features like they would vanish just like the doe. "How did you find me?"

"I've been here all night searching for you two," the boy shrugged looking sheepish. "I was just about to go to sleep until daylight when I saw you running after…"

"Did you see anyone else" The chosen one asked quickly, cutting him off.

"Not until you were diving, I saw a cloak, over in that area" Ron gestured "but it had been forever and you hadn't come back up, so I had to dive in after you, and I wasn't exactly going to…"

The dark haired boy was already slipping across the pond in the direction his friend had pointed. He could hear the Weasley, crunching on ice behind him. He waved Hermione's wand frantically, but there was nothing left but a pile of uneven snow behind an oak. Someone had certainly been there, but they were also certainly gone.

"They aren't here any longer" Harry called, and walked back to his friend.

"Then who put the sword there"

"Same person who cast the Patronus" he answered looking down at the sword in Ron's hands with the light of Hermione's wand.

Ron saw where gaze went and lifted it a little. "Do you think it's the real one?"

"We can find out" He looked over Ron's shoulder and saw a flat rock near where he'd entered the clearing. "Come on."

The two trudged around the lake in the slush of snow and Ron silently handed over the locket which Harry placed on the rock. It was quivering, like it could sense the end was near, and wasn't yet done with them. He looked up at Ron, and found the other man holding out the hilt of the sword.

* * *

"No"

He blinked at his friend, bewildered.

"You do it"

"Why?" Ron turned pink noting the way his voice had jumped in pitch. Maybe his friend truly had gone mental while he was gone. Didn't he know that the thing had tormented him far worse than the others? He couldn't.

"You got out the sword, it's supposed to be you" Harry was talking, but he couldn't hear him, and was merely staring down at the locket like it would attack his neck as well. "I'll open it and you stab it, okay?"

Numbly, Ron nodded his head, but when Harry got on his knees to do it, realization hit in a wave of nausea "Don't do it Harry!"

"Why not?"

"I can't" his voice cracked and he sounded pitiful, even to his own ears "That thing, I can't"

He was already beginning to back away, his hand gripping the sword so tightly his knuckles went white.

"Why can't you"

"You know what that thing does" he exclaimed staring down at it, quivering in his soaked clothes. "And I know I was a right arse, but that thing affects me worse than the two of you"

"Ron-"

"No Harry, it made me think things, hear things in my ear. It would fuck with my head, I'd take it off and get everything back in order just to have to put the bloody thing back on!" he let out a shaky breath "I can't"

"Yes you can, you've got the sword, I know it's got to be you.

He was still shaking his head and backing away, "Please Ron" Harry called, and like a loyal pet hearing its name called Ron looked up at his friend. There wasn't a doubtful look on the boy's features, and it made his own face steady, and his hand lift the hilt.

In a silent understanding Harry turned back to the locket. The hissing started in a cacophony of parsletongue between Harry and the cursed object, and it sent chills down his spine just listening to it. It seemed to go on long enough, that when the click came, and a scream sounded from the locket, Ron was almost unprepared for it.

Two eyes glared back put at him from within the locket and he stepped forward and raised the sword as Harry yelled "Stab!"

Before the point could hit metal a voice came, grating on his ear drums just like the locket had all those weeks.

" _I have seen your heart, and it is mine."_

" _Don't listen to it!"_ Harry's voice sounded as distant as a memory _. "Stab it!"_

" _I have seen your dreams, Ronald Weasley, and I have seen your fears. All you desire is possible, but all that you dread is also possible. . . ."_

" _Stab!"_ shouted Harry; but his voice only echoed. Ron's gaze was locked down into Riddle's eyes _._

" _Least loved, always, by the mother who craved a daughter . . . Least loved now, by the friends who would choose your siblings . . . Second best, always, eternally overshadowed . . ."_

Harry's voice was getting scratchier with each call, "Ron stab it now!"

 _Out of the locket's two windows, out of the eyes, there bloomed, like two grotesque bubbles, the heads of Harry and Hermione, weirdly distorted. Ron yelled in shock and stumbled back, dragging the sword along with him as the figures blossomed out of the locket, first chests, then waists, then legs, until they stood in the locket, side by side like trees with a common root, swaying over Ron and the real Harry, who had snatched his fingers away from the locket like it had burned._

" _Ron!" Harry shouted, but the Riddle-Harry was now speaking with Voldemort's voice and Ron was transfixed by it._

" _Why return? We were better without you, happier without you, glad of your absence. . . . We laughed at your stupidity, your cowardice, your presumption —"_

 _Riddle-Hermione, who was more beautiful and yet more terrible than the real Hermione: She swayed, cackling, before Ron, who looked horrified yet transfixed, the sword hanging pointlessly at his side._ "Who would have any use of you? You're surrounded by great wizards, your brothers, the boy who lived, and yet you still can't figure out what to do with yourself."She laughed, and the sound ripped through his brain. "Why did you come back at all, is it because mummy didn't want her one failure around any longer, or were your brothers ready to kick you to the curb as well."

" _Ron, stab it, STAB IT!" Harry yelled, but Ron did not move._

 _His eyes were wide, and the Riddle-Harry and the Riddle-Hermione were reflected in them, their hair swirling like flames, their eyes shining red, their voices lifted in an evil duet._

" _Your mother confessed," sneered Riddle-Harry, while Riddle Hermione jeered, "that she would have preferred me as a son, would be glad to exchange . . ."_

"Why wouldn't she" laughed the figure of Hermione, "There's always someone better than you. Better in quidditch, better in school…"

Tears were streaming down his face now, and just as he was sure it couldn't get worse, came a third figure. The person was nearly unrecognizable as it morphed between Harry and Hermione.

Then he saw, it was not one, but all of his family. Copper locks swayed around an ever changing face. Ginny's freckles and their fathers glasses, then Bills scar, Charlie's tattoos, George's missing ear, Fred's sneer, Percy's upturned nose, and his mother's scathing gaze. The voice was worse than either of the other two as it leered down at him "You'll never be enough, _don't come home_ "

Slowly Ron's gaze turned down, Harry was shouting, but he's already decided that it couldn't be done, thee sword grew heavy in his hands and he looked down at the glass of the locket, waiting for it to finally finish him. Then his own reflection caught his eyes, and a glint of red stared back at him.

His head snapped back up to the figure that was still yelling at him. Now he couldn't hear it, only Harry's voice surged through the clearing.

" _Stab it Ron!"_

Both hands tightened around the hilt and he surged forward. The locket began its terrible scream that had happened when it first opened, but he hardly noticed as he sent the metal crashing down through the smoke figures and into the glass.

All three figures wailed as they curled down, and were pulled back into the broken window they had emerged from.

His chest was heaving harder than he would think possible. After all those weeks enduring the belittlement of the locket, and then the time he has spent practically under attack at his brother's, he still hadn't been prepared for what that thing had saved up. Yet somehow he'd managed it. Through all the stress, and the pain he'd managed.

Now if he could just figure out how to face Hermione long enough to apologize, then maybe he'd be able to look at himself in the mirror again.

* * *

I know it has been forever, but I have gotten so incredibly busy you could not imagine. Still, I have a break from classes for the holidays and am hoping to get a lot of writing accomplished. And I hope the extra length of this one makes up for the wait I put you all through.

Read & Review

Thank you all so much

Love, Mel


	8. Chapter 8

Lost and Found: Chapter Eight

* * *

Not long after Ron had returned, did they decide it was time for a trip to Xenophileus Lovegood's. Which had been a mistake. They'd narrowly escaped death eaters after the old coot had turned them in. Though, Harry had come home encouraged by their new information on the deathly hallows, Hermione and Ron had only come back feeling even more on the edge than they had before.

Now she was stuck in her bunk tense and angry, trying desperately to find sleep.

The night he'd left, Hermione hadn't been sure what she would do. Part of her had wanted to run after him, and maybe apparate along with him. She's had flashes of her parents run through her mind that night, and she imagined leaving with him, finding them in Australia, and apologizing to Fred, figuring out some way to avoid the damn war. Still a much larger more logical part of herself had said that was absolutely ridiculous. Yet, even when that part had won over her, she had still ran hoping to find Ron in the darkness. When she did she would be ready with her wand gripped in her hand and a string of dark curses waiting on her lips.

By now she still hadn't let go of the thought. It clinkered around her mind as she stared up at the top of her bunk where Ron currently slept. She had her wand back, even though Harry was on watch. Ron had showed up with two in his possession, one which had been taken from a snatcher. Which meant Harry now had to use the wand of a death eater. It was hardly ideal, but it was better than before.

Then again, now that she did have her wand back at all hours of the day, it was becoming all the more tempting to shoot a curse at the red headed arse that lay above her. Her jaw clenched once more as she recalled the night he had left, rain beating down on her as she ran after him. When he had showed back up Harry had welcomed him with open arms, but she wasn't so easy to please. The witch had no idea how long it would take her and Ron to gain the level of trust they had possessed before.

It had taken her years to become so close to the boys as to allow simple touches, and the trade of whispers. Ron's betrayal had shattered nearly all the progress they had made, and looking at him sent her mind spiraling back to first year, when the mean red haired boy had called her a know it all, and made her cry. Even with Harry she didn't feel quite as comfortable as before. The boys were linked in a way she never could be with either of them, and her mind had viewed Ron's behavior as an attachment to Harry's, so he too was in part to blame.

She felt more alone out in these woods than ever. All she had to do was try to read the books she'd taken from Dumbledore's study, imagine hexing Ron into oblivion, and sleep.

Her sleep had become infinitely better since the morning Harry brought Ron back. Maybe it had been his absence slowly driving her mad, but she was sure it had more to do with having that damn locket in the tent all the time. When they had chosen not to wear it all the time, it had lied on the table between their cots. Hermione could think of nothing else that would mess with her space of mind in such a way. Her gratitude that it was finally gone was thus far the only thing that had kept her from deciding to tear Ron in half.

She took a deep breath and rolled to her side, perhaps if she didn't look up at where she knew he was, she could fall asleep, and find those peaceful dreams. The ones filled with Fred, the ones that completely engulfed her for even an hour after she'd woken up. They made her drowsy, but they were the only bits of contention she was getting now a days. When she wasn't sleeping, or hadn't just woken up, she only wanted to go back. Then when night fell and she was finally allowed to crawl into her cot, she'd have to waste half of her time rolling around, trying to get to what she so desperately needed.

"Hermione" just as her eyes had begun drooping, she heard her name whispered above her, and they had shot right back open. "Are you awake"

"Yes Ron"

"I have something to tell you"

She sat waiting. It was likely another apology. He'd said sorry about a hundred times so far, but she knew it was going to take a little more than words to get back on her good side.

"Are you listening?"

"Yes" she nearly hissed, curling up tighter in her blankets.

"Fre- well I suppose I should start by telling you I know about Fred."

Her jaw tighten, just the slightest.

"I stayed with the twins while I was gone, and I started questioning things you'd done during the school year, and things Fred was doing now. It sort of fell together, but I wasn't sure until they told me."

"And-" she didn't see where this conversation was going. It was only tying Ron to the only thing keeping her sane, and she didn't care to hear more about it.

"And I need to tell you something about him." The witch could hear him take a break like he was bracing himself for something. "Have you been having dreams- about him?"

That made her sit up in her bed. "How do you know?"

"He, he's been sending them to you, intentionally."

"How?" she breathed as her mined thought back to all the dreams she's had thus far. One from just yesterday made her cheeks go red at the thought of Fred thinking of that.

"A new product he's made" Ron's voice squeaked "And the hair from a brush you left at his apartment.

She recalled a purple brush she'd lost at just about the same time she had broken off with Fred. Hermione had left quite a few things there, but she had assumed Fred would throw them all away.

"Can he hear me in them?" At this rate, she was sure she would fall asleep and never care to wake up again. If it meant she could stay there and just speak to Fred.

"No, they're very one sided. And I don't have any way for you to get back to him, but everything that happens in them, everything he does is his planning. He thinks of the dream, and you get it."

"How do you know so much about it" The wizard had told her and Harry how he's found them, and the deluminator had seemed much too sudden for Fred to have told him everything about the dreams before he left.

"I was incidentally one of Fred's test subjects" He sighed, "I debated telling you, because I was scared it would make you miss him more, but I thought you ought to know"

The girl smiled and sat back in her bed once more allowing her eyes to fall. She wanted to sleep so much more now, but she still had to make sure Ron knew something. "Thank you" she whispered.

She was drifting off when he spoke again, his voice hardly cutting through her haze. "Remind me to turn on the Radio tomorrow."

* * *

 _This_ brought him back to fifth year. Back when birds hadn't seen him the way they did now. In those early Hogwarts days he and George had been gangly, ugly looking things. The only thing that had made them likeable was their humor. It was part of the reason they'd even developed their jokester sides. Sure, it had started before Hogwarts, but it was pushed by what they saw Percy turn into, and what they hadn't wanted to become themselves.

So they were liked for their humor for the longest time. Then they'd grown, quidditch practice shaped their muscles and instead of laughing because of his jokes, girls started laughing just because they wanted to. Because they wanted him to see them differently, and it never really changed the way he saw them. It only made him realize that getting one in a broom closet would be relatively easy.

Which had turned his hand into an obsolete method. Why use your own, when there are so many witches willing to do it with theirs? He had quickly learned that. As well as that if you take a bird to a dark closet, allow her to do as she pleased, and closed your eyes- you could imagine anyone you pleased.

Back then he had felt no guilt over using one girl to picture another, but by seventh year it dawned on him how awful that was, and he stopped. Well he had begun to stop, and then it happened. One of his favorite images to use had become a reality, and after that it became too difficult to even look at other witches. He had endured months of his brother's dick jokes, and worried for weeks over a letter he planned to send on Hermione's birthday, only to debate with himself half the day as to whether or not he should send it.

Getting that feeling back had been like resurfacing on the Great Lake, after spending a year in the clutches of the giant squid. He'd gotten to keep his breath for just of few short months, before he'd fucked up. Then summer had come, and seeing her had only made things worse. Her leaving however had put him in a low he hadn't thought possible for a person as usually easy going as he was.

Now he was here. Back to the tactics he'd employed as a child. His hand and an image. At least now the picture was accurate, and he could block out his conscience by claiming it was solely material for the dreams he was creating every other night.

The dreams. Not all of them were sexual. In fact most of them were based off his memories, or dates he had planned and never gotten to take her on. So he sent them to her, just in case he never got the chance to take her on any of them. Still he had to limit himself, the hairbrush had been filled to the brim, but he had no idea how long she would be gone. Only every other day would he allow himself to pull a single strand out of the brush, send her the best he could think of, and pray that they made her as happy as they made him.

* * *

" _No — is it George?"_

" _It's Fred, I think," said Ron, leaning in closer…_

She knew it was Fred, from the moment his voice came out of the small red speakers on the radio Ron had brought to them. At first she had been upset, that in the few days he'd already been back he hadn't told her about this, but actually hearing Fred's voice- knowing he was alive and well- made up for it all.

" _I'm not being 'Rodent,'"_ Fred's voice came out had in static from the cheap muggle plastic, that was no doubt being bothered by the magic it used to broadcast. Still, it was the best thing she'd heard in months. _"….no way, I told you I wanted to be 'Rapier'!"_

" _Oh, all right then. 'Rapier,' could you please give us your take on the various stories we've been hearing about the Chief Death Eater?"_

" _Yes, River, I can,"_ She took a deep breath and laid her head on the table, right next to where the radio sat, as though the closer she got to it, the closer she would be to him _. "As our listeners will know, unless they've taken refuge at the bottom of a garden pond or somewhere similar, You-Know-Who's strategy of remaining in the shadows is creating a nice little climate of panic. Mind you, if all the alleged sightings of him are genuine, we must have a good nineteen YouKnow-Whos running around the place."_

" _Which suits him, of course,"_ spoke a deep voice she immediately identified as Shaklebolt _. "The air of mystery is creating more terror than actually showing himself."_

" _Agreed," said Fred. "So, people, let's try and calm down a bit. Things are bad enough without inventing stuff as well. For instance, this new idea that You-Know-Who can kill with a single glance from his eyes. That's a basilisk, listeners. One simple test: Check whether the thing that's glaring at you has got legs. If it has, it's safe to look into its eyes, although if it really is You-Know-Who, that's still likely to be the last thing you ever do."_

The basilisk talk sent a shiver down her spine, as she remembered sitting in the twin's basement, and telling Fred about what she saw when she had been petrified. Then Harry's laugh cut through the air, and she hadn't heard it since before Ron had left. Despite herself, it made her smile.

" _And the rumors that he keeps being sighted abroad?" asked Lee._

" _Well, who wouldn't want a nice little holiday after all the hard work he's been putting in?" asked Fred. "Point is, people, don't get lulled into a false sense of security, thinking he's out of the country. Maybe he is, maybe he isn't, but the fact remains he can move faster than Severus Snape confronted with shampoo when he wants to"_ Now _that_ was a joke so classically Fred she couldn't stop herself from snorting. When the boys both glanced over at her she turned her head down to the table in her arms, and prayed they didn't see the red on her cheeks. _"so don't count on him being a long way away if you're planning on taking any risks. I never thought I'd hear myself say it, but safety first!"_

" _Thank you very much for those wise words, Rapier," said Lee. "Listeners, that brings us to the end of another Potterwatch….."_ After that was said, Hermione sat up and tuned out the rest. She'd heard what she'd wanted.

When the radio's dial spun and the lights behind its speakers went out, the witch looked over at the two boys. Harry and Ron beamed back at her, radiating back exactly how she felt.

" _Good, eh?" said Ron happily._

" _Brilliant," said Harry._

" _It's so brave of them,"_ sighed Hermione, her voice coming out with an adoration she didn't usually express. It's dreamy tone reminded her of Luna, but at the moment she didn't care _. "If they were found . . ."_

"They careful about it" Ron said, "The blood wards over the burrow and their apartment keep them safe, and only the order really know how to listen in…."

Harry cut him off, "Did you hear what they said though, He's abroad which means he still hasn't gotten the wand!"

She sighed and opened her mouth to tell him he was focusing on the wrong thing, Mr. Lovegood's little speech had gotten to him more than she'd thought, but just as he got out "..Harry" to scold him, he cut her off.

" _Come on, Hermione, why are you so determined not to admit it? Vol —"_

" _HARRY, NO!"_ Ron bellowed, but it was too late.

"— _demort's after the Elder Wand!"_ Hermione jumped up, and grabbed her wand to run out of the tent and recast the protection spells as Ron yelled at Harry over the taboo. It was too late however, just as she reached the doorway she heard the cracks of apparation.

A noise behind her made her turn. The sneakascope had begun spinning wildly in every direction, they were surrounded.

" _Come out of there with your hands up! We know you're in there! You've got half a dozen wands pointing at you and we don't care who we curse!"_

The boys looked just as fearful as she felt, and after a moment's thought, she made action. Ron had left the deluminator on the table which she grabbed and set out all the lights. Now she could only see outlines of the boys. Ron made a noise of protest, but before either of them could do anything to stop her, she took Harry by the shoulder and pointed her wand into his face.

* * *

AN: Another chapter!

Just letting you guys know a couple things. A) The italicized parts are written by JK Rowling and in no way mine. B) my schedule is about to get much less crowded, so I should get to update quicker.

Thank you guys for sticking around, I'm hoping the next chapter will be out soon!

Love Melgirl


	9. Chapter 9

Lost and Found: Chapter Nine

* * *

Greyback seemed to be the fool leading them. Even tied up with no way to see him, Hermione could hear him barking orders, and his smell was pungent enough to kill a person.

She tried to focus on what the snatchers were saying as they ransacked the tent, but her mind was too muddled. The witch vaguely understood that she was tied to Ron, Harry, a person who appeared to be dean Thomas, and some sort of magical being.

Something in the back of her mind caught a few key words Manor, Sword, Mudblood, Glasses, Potter. She knew she should panic, but couldn't find it within herself to do so. Perhaps one of them had confounded her without her knowledge.

From what she could tell the boys had been mostly knocked out, and for that she was grateful. The spell she had hit harry with had put him in a sleep like haze, and one of the death eaters had slammed Ron against a tree hard enough to make him go limp. At least they didn't have to listen to what she was now hearing.

The men were as dirty as the trio was, and half as decent. They looked hungry, but it was more in their eyes than a rumbling noise from their stomachs. Hands roamed and groped as much as they pleased, and she wished for the millionth time since leaving the burrow that she wouldn't die before seeing Fred again. Merlin forbid this barbaric, homeless looking man be the last to put his hands on her.

Finally, when they seemed finished with whatever they were looking for, a hand dragged her up by the hair. The twisting feeling of dissaperation hit her, as well as a wave of stench from the werewolf that held her. Combined, the two were enough that she doubled over upon their landing, and vomited all over grass that seemed far too green and luscious for a time of war.

When the last of the bile had left her stomach she looked up at the walls of Malfoy Manner. The iron gates creaked open and Grayback pulled her though them before she had a chance to begin crying.

Just as before she watched, in a daze as to what was truly happening. She could recognize Draco, and his mother. Her eyes couldn't identify Bellatrix, but her ears knew the loud and cackling voice all too well.

They dragged Harry's form to the center of the room, and she heard a muttered debate between them as to whether or not it was truly him. For a minute she had hope, if her stinging spell had done its job, they might be taken to the ministry. But no, her life had never been that simple.

Grayback's hand dug into her scalp and pulled her forward by her hair. "But this is his mudblood!" he roared, and all the heads in the room swiveled towards her.

"That looks like her" She heard Narcissa distantly, as though she were underwater. Then more clearly "And that's the Weasley boy!"

"It's them!" Bellatrix cackled, and Hermione watched as the witch raised her sleeve, her heart ready to pound out of her chest, only to have a hand grab her wrist to stop it.

"This is not your household!" Lucius hissed "and you shall not be the one to call upon the Dark Lord"

"Take you hand off me!"

"I am under the authority to-"

"You lost all your authority when you lost your wand!" she shrieked.

"I'm sorry," Fenir released his rough hold on her head, and stalked forward "But I do believe it was us that brought 'em here" He bared his teeth and growled "So it'll be us taking the gold"

"Gold!" Bellatrix laughed "Take the gold! What do I have to care of gold, I seek only the approval of…" her voice trailed, and she pulled herself out of Malfoy's grip, and pushed past Grayback, "…What do you have there?"

The snatcher didn't look nearly as scared as Hermione was, "Sword" he muttered "I found it in their tent"

"Give it to me" she reached out for it, and the snatcher stepped back.

"It's mine, I found it" Even Hermione knew that was a mistake.

"Stupify" the other snatchers stepped forward "Stupify, Stupify." One by one they fell, and she wondered how they had ever thought they had a chance.

"Draco bring Aunt Bella the sword" Narcissa pushed forward her son, and he bent down to pick up the ruby covered handle.

The witch took it from his hands "Now take the filth outside Draky, if you can't do it yourself, leave them in the garden for me."

"Bella, we need to call the Dark Lord"

"No," she snapped, turning to look at her sister. "The situation has changed completely, this sword was supposed to be delivered to Gringotts by Snape, we need to make sure they haven't been inside my vault."

"How do you intend to do that?"

"Werewolf! Take them to the caller with the other prisoners…. but leave the girl."

Her heart skipped a beat as Fenir dragged Harry back to their group and pushed her forward so that she landed on her face in front of Bellatrix.

"I'll be back for a taste" she heard him grunt as he began to drag away the boys.

"No" She heard Harry moan, clearly still half asleep. Hermione could only hope it wouldn't be the last she heard from him.

"Now," Bellatrix's shoe dug into her back, as she flipped her over "Where exactly did you get my sword?"

She spoke with all the calmness of a mental patient. Not for the first time since she had realized she was confounded was she glad it had happened. She'd certainly be crying right then, if her mind had been clear enough to truly grasp the situation.

The other witch lowered herself, and sat upon Hermione's waist "I asked you- where did you find my sword?"

The girl opened her mouth and grasped for words, but nothing came. Her throat was dry and her mind blank. Fingers curled around her shoulders and nails bit into her skin as the Lestrange pulled her up just to slam her back down onto the marble tiles, and shriek once more "How did you get it!"

Her head made a hard impact on the floor, but it did nothing to help her speak. Her tongue felt like a lump in her mouth, and no matter how hard she tried it refused to work.

"Do you want me to call Grayback back here?" The witch sneered, and she tried desperately to cry out 'no'.

When nothing came out, Bellatrix brandished her wand. "I suppose you need other methods to crack a mudblood?"

She braced for the crucio, but it wasn't what she had expected. Instead, the wind left her lungs, like falling from the monkey bars as a child, but this time she couldn't catch it again. Her eyes flew open and her mind was suddenly clear. She stared at the blinding light of Bellatrix's wand and choked on nothing.

When Bellatrix finally released the spell, Hermione took a deep gasp and then began coughing. Her mouth tasted like blood and her chest heaved. Now that the fog in her mind was gone she could see every death eater in the room. They stared back at her gasping and pathetic on the floor, and she thought about how these were the faces that had tormented her behind their masks.

She was so preoccupied she didn't hear the female death eater ask her question again. Nor did she see the small silver dagger the older witch had stored in her robes. The black sister took her roughly by the wrist and held it to the cold tile. She continued coughing, and her focus moved to the blood from her mouth as it stained the white stone beneath her. Only when the blade took its first press into her skin did she turn to look at her arm, and let out a scream loud enough to be heard in France.

She'd cut herself before. Cooking dinner with her dad, making a project for muggle studies, but never did it feel like this. The woman was making large, deep gashes in her arm, repeatedly going over the same area until it was nothing but a mound of torn flesh.

Hermione couldn't stop it. She screamed and cried, begging for it to end. Her body reacted violently trying to push Bellatrix off, but a tying charm put an end to that. Her limbs felt bound to the ground with invisible ropes that cut off her blood circulation and made her hands and feet turn a deep shade of maroon. Now with a still hold, the other witch took more care in her cuts, and only then did it occur to Hermione, that they might just be purposeful.

It didn't matter though. Her voice was raw from the screaming, and blood was leaving her body at a rate that made her sure she would be dead in an hour. Now she could only cry, and beg her to stop.

Then it did. Perhaps she had just ran out of room, having reached the wrist, but Hermione didn't think so. She looked at the bloody mass that had been her arm, and somehow knew there was something there, hiding under the carnage. At least she wouldn't live to find out what the old bitch had done. In fact, she could feel something pulling as the recesses of her mind already. Black dots appeared behind her eyes.

All of a sudden, the pain returned. Her vocal cords stretched beyond what she had thought possible, and another scream erupted from her throat.

What had previously been an all-encompassing agony in her arm, had now spread. Even the binding spell didn't stop her twitching. Her body moved with every second, like she was trying to run from the spell.

It lasted far shorter than she'd expected, and far longer than she thought she could have stood. The seconds ticked by and very suddenly she realized why the Longbottoms had gone mad. She could see it, like a second option glaring at her, shiny in comparison to what she felt now. Only a moment more and she would have grasped for it, would have taken the only other choice, just to escape the pain.

But it stopped, she could hear Bellatrix's voice again, and though the words weren't legible, she knew what she was asking.

"It's a fake" she croaked, as loud as she could summon. "I swear it's a fake"

Then the black dots overtook her vision, and she allowed her eyes to shut. Perhaps for the last time.

* * *

They'd only reopened the store after Christmas for a few days before he and George both decided that it was too dangerous to keep doing it. Between the death eaters that streamed through the roads, and the radio show going on every week in their apartment, it just wasn't worth it.

At least he had thought that a week ago. He'd imagined a radio show every other day. Having Lee and George there for dinner, drinking to their hearts content, and going to help mum and dad out. He'd imagined living like they used to. When the shop hadn't yet gotten so busy they could barely find time to breath. Those early days had been near bliss. They had truly been young and free.

Then shit hit the fan. Georgie and he got slammed with work, and then the war had come to tear their whole lives away. So when his twin had offered to shut down until they won or lost, he'd agreed without hesitation.

Now he spent everyday bored out of his mind. He had forgotten how lonely it was staying in the apartment (especially now that there was no chance he'd wander through the living room to find Hermione sitting on his couch- ready to surprise him).

Of course George was home sometimes, but he spent most days and nights with Angie. Fred couldn't even blame him , seeing that it took them nearly an hour to get to each other's homes since apparation was practically shut down.

Which happened to be the same reason he never went to his parents anymore. Sure he could apparate into the burrow (anyone with Weasley blood could apparate in) but since the apartment wasn't old enough for blood wards, it meant he had to walk a block down the road to reach a space he could do it safely in. Still it meant he had to walk a block through Hogsmeade, which was currently a deadly task. He'd found that out last time he'd gone for dinner at the burrow. Some beady looking man had held a wand to his throat and told Fred to follow him, to with Fred had responded by grabbing at his wand and breaking the frail thing in half. It had fallen to the ground with hardly a spark, and the snatcher had run away looking like he'd just witnessed a murder. Still there had been a black circle on the Weasley's throat, where the tip had pressed into his skin, and his body had shook while his mum fretted over him.

So he'd stayed in the apartment, and hadn't left for three days now. It was making him fidget. Of course soon he'd have to leave for groceries, but he was a little scared to go out into diagon alley. So scared in fact that he'd been considering apparating into muggle London and finding a store there. They had to buy their food somewhere didn't they? That was one of the only things he hadn't managed to ask Hermione on their night there, and now he regretted it. It, along with so many other things he regretted not getting to ask her.

It was nearly seven at night when he decided he might as well write a list in case he did decide to brave the outing. He was in the middle of writing out ' _olive oil'_ when George came barreling through the doorway. For the first second, Fred couldn't figure out why he was in such a rush, and then he saw the look on his brother's face.

"Who's following you?" the words flew from his mouth, and almost without thinking he picked up his wand and cast every locking charm he could think of.

George's hand reached out and grabbed him by the elbow. "No one's following me"

Fred turned to look over his shoulder at his brother. The words didn't help, because the look on his face still screamed panic.

"It's them, the three of them I mean. They're at shell cottage, and Hermione's hurt."

* * *

When she woke up, she could only see red. Hermione blinked, and tried and push it from her vision. Then she tried to wipe it away, but found that lifting her arm was far too painful. A hiss escaped her and soon the red was larger, less blurry.

"Hermione, Hermione are you awake?" Blue eyes stared down at her, and they looked so inviting.

She hummed, and reached up with the arm that wasn't covered in bandages. His face was scratchy from stuble, just like she remembered it.

"I'm sorry," she croaked. Her throat felt like it was on fire, but she had to get the words out "I really missed you"

Her vision was swimming, and all she could see were blue eyes, and blood orange hair. It had gotten longer, and his eyes looked strange. Maybe something had changed in him in the months they had been apart, or perhaps it was the dark lighting of the room, either way she didn't care.

The witch pushed herself up on her elbow, and ignored the screaming of her body. Her hand gripped his chin and pulled him down to meet her. She was done craving, and done dreaming of this. Hermione needed it, and if she had to wait another moment she swore it would kill her more easily than Bellatrix's knife.

For a moment, it was only bliss. She moaned into his mouth, and then it hit her. Their noses were not knocking, the way she and Fred's always did. The jaw she gipped under her hand was more square than the angular curve she was used to, and worst of all the mouth pressed against hers was merely puckered. She couldn't remember the last time she kissed Fred and couldn't feel soft lips smirking under her own.

Still, it was Ron that pulled her off. His hands slowly detangled them, and laid her back down on the bed.

"I'm sorry," she gasped. "I didn't think it was- I didn't realize" she fumbled over her words, but Ron cut her off.

"I know, it's okay Mione. He'll be here soon," His hands pushed her down into the covers and he pressed his lips to her forehead "I promise."

* * *

He had apparated with little regard to doing so properly, and had landed on the shore by shell cottage. His knees his the sand first and George was gripping his shirt. Fred shook him off, and ran through the grass surrounding his brother's home. He could see Fluer standing in the kitchen window.

She moved to open the door for him, and he pushed past her into the room. Lupin was standing by the table, next to where Bill sat. The brothers locked eyes for a moment, and then Bill stood and began sprinting up the stairs. He took that as a sign and followed at his heels.

His older brother took him to the second floor and around a corner to the left. He only spoke when he stopped in front of the last door on the hall.

"She's in there, sleeping. Ron's been watching her, but I don't know if he's in there now."

"Thank you" he breathed, thinking of nothing else to say.

The older Weasley left, right back down the way they had come, and Fred waited until he heard the last creak of the stairs before opening the door.

First he saw Hermione, then the bandages, then her hand- the one firmly holding his baby brothers face. She was moving in a manner that was so familiar to him it was painful to watch. He glanced at the bandages once more- no blood. Then he slowly backed out of the room, and closed the door behind him.

* * *

AN: Another chapter, thanks guys! I posted a little quick because I wanted to sort of apologize for the no posting in like 2 months. The next one should be out by or on next Saturday!

Love Melgirl


	10. Chapter 10

Lost and Found: Chapter 10

"Fred?" he asked startled, he had come into the living room looking for Harry. Instead he had found his brother, sitting tense on Bill's couch.

"Is she going to be alright?" the older man asked, not looking at him straight.

"Yeah she should be. She lost a lot of blood, but Fluer's fairly talented as a healer." He said and shoved his hands into his jeans. They were still dirty and stiff from weeks of wear.

"Good" Fred said gruffly and stood.

"Do you want to see her, I don't think she's fallen back asleep quite yet:"

"No-" he still hadn't looked Ron in the eyes "no I don't think she wants to see me,"

He was taken aback "Of course she wants to see you-"

His older brother cut him off. "Just owl me when she's up and about. I don't think I need to speak to her until then"

"She _wants_ to see you Fred" Ron said, feeling the blood rush to his ears, along with the anger. "She just told me so herself"

Fred snorted "I didn't realize you were such a brilliant liar, Ronniekins"

"I promised her she could see you, now get your arse-!"

"Oh I'm sure you stopped her mid snog to promise I'd be up there" He sneered, rising out of his chair. Then much quieter he asked "Is that why you just left? Without letting anyone know you had found a way back to them. Were you scared I'd ask to come with and find the two of you out?"

It took him a second to realize what had happened, then another moment to laugh, at the situation before finally a smile broke across his face.

"Don't give me that shit eating grin!" his brother continued, gaining volume "You could have told me! I've spent the past 6 months waiting for her to come back!"

He considered stopping him, and explaining, but the years of suffering _he'd_ endured thinking he and Hermione were going to end up together were still weighing on the back of his mind. This might give him a laugh he could hold onto years from now.

"I told you what I had done, and about the dreams. You could have stopped me! Told me I was being a fool, and that she had moved on- _to you_." His brother scorned "I could have been trying to pick myself back up, trying to get it together"

He watched his brother heaving, and before he could really think about what he was saying he spoke "You're lying to yourself, if you think you'll ever be able to hold yourself together without her"

Ron didn't know why he'd said it, but looking at Fred now he knew it was true. He'd watched his brother obsess for weeks about how to find them- _how to find her._ And he'd watched Hermione all summer, he had known something had been missing in her. Then living in the tent he'd watched her deteriorate, like she had lost something that made up half her soul. Once they had found one another, there would be no existing without the other. He could see it now. He'd even felt it in the way she'd kissed him, thinking he was Fred.

His brother hung his head once more "Maybe you're right" his voice was low and cracking. "But I need to try, which means I can't go up there to see her"

Fred moved to leave the room, but Ron grasped his arm to stop him.

Then he was falling, crashing back onto Bill's coffee table. His head hit the solid mahogany, and he could hear something crack. Hopefully it wasn't his skull.

Footsteps sounded coming into the room, and Fred was saying something.

"Sorry, I had to get one out" Ron looked up at his brother, who was cradling the fist he had punched him with.

Bill helped him to stand, but he really didn't need it. The initial shock had gotten him, but now the rage had returned and he jumped at his brother.

The two fell to the ground. Ron fumbled to grab his brother's cloak, and slammed his head against the carpet. A palm landed under his jaw, and he saw stars for a moment. He retaliated with a closed fist, swung in the general direction he knew his Fred's face was. Ron could feel bone shattering under his hand, before someone was dragging him off, and back onto his feet.

Bill's arms wrapped around his own and held him still. He watched Fluer help Fred to stand. It was hard to tell through the blood, but his nose looked like it was turned even farther to the right than it had been before.

"I told you she wanted to see you" he spat, tasting iron in his mouth and knowing that Fluer was going to skin him for the red stains on her cream carpet. "You _owe_ it to her to go and talk with her."

He looked over his brother one more time as Fluer said "Not weet so much blood on your face you veel not"

Maybe he should explain what Fred had clearly seen, but he didn't particularly want to. Hermione would have to do it.

"Fine, but as soon as I come back down you're giving me all the details, just like I gave you" The witch was wiping at his face with a wash cloth, but he could still hear and see Fred's snarl underneath it.

When he had walked up these stairs last, the end of them had looked like the pearly white gates. He'd gone up, expecting a hug, and maybe a kiss. He'd gone up expecting a tearful conversation, and an arse load of apologies coming from his lips. Now he had no idea what to say, how he would even start. His hands had shook from anger when he was on the couch, and he'd though he would do far worse than punch his little brother. All that rage still wasn't completely gone. He didn't know how it would come out. He prayed to merlin it wouldn't end up in a screaming match, that's how he'd lost her in the first place.

The door creaked open, and he could see Hermione's form. She was curled around a pillow, the way he had always found her on his couch at the apartment. A sharp pain rattled around his chest. He glanced at the chair Ron had vacated, and then decided against it. Instead he lowered himself onto the side of the bed, and watched her stir.

When she opened them her eyes were glassy, and her cheeks were wet. Still she pushed herself up with her good arm, and brought her face within inches of his.

"Is it you?" he voice cracked "Or am I seeing things again?"

"It's me"

Arms much skinnier than he last remembered wrapped around his torso, and a mass of hair covered his vision. He melted under her hands, and his muscles released all the tension he'd built up over the past nine months. Without having to think about it he hugged her back, and realized with a startle that he could nearly touch his own hands she was so small.

"I need to get you to mum's pronto." He murmured in her ear. "If she saw you right now she'd cook a ten course meal"

She laughed in his arms, and he heard a sniffle as well. "I don't think I'd be able to handle it. Now a days I get full if we manage to find a whole egg for each of us."

"You'll get better," he said, more to himself than to her. "And if Ron doesn't help you get better I'll make sure that he vomits slugs for a week"

The witch laughed harder this time, and her hair jiggled in front of his eyes "Please, Ron can barely find us enough mushrooms for one meal. Let alone gather enough to fill me"

His breath caught in his throat and he had a to blink for a moment. "I don't just mean food, Herms. Tell me if he doesn't take care of you, alright. I swear if you ever tell me he did something to you I'll skin him-"

She was laughing again, and let go of her to look at her face. Tears were forming in the corners of her eyes again, but this time he could tell it was from the mirth of what he had said, not sadness.

"What-"

"What _exactly_ do you think I've been doing camping with him for months?"

A rock fell to the pit of his stomach as he tried to figure out what she meant.

Heat flushed to his cheeks "I-I don't know" he fumbled, looking at her hunched over form. She was giggling harder now, and it wasn't helping his unease.

"Not-" she took a deep breath and kept laughing a moment "Not what you- you seem- to be thinking" Hermione chortled.

The heat in his face slowly simmered from embarrassment to the same anger he'd clung to downstairs. "So you mean to tell me I didn't just walk in on a the two of you?" he scoffed.

The young muggle born took a deep breath and smiled up at him with a sad look in her eyes "I'd just woken up Fred, I'd thought he was you."

That made his heart leap in his chest, but he'd spent months believing she would never forgive him for what he'd done. A few words weren't going to change that right away. "I understand if something started between the two of you, just don't lie to me about it like we lied to Ron all those months."

"Fredrick Weasley, I would not lie to you. Nothing started between Ron and I and nothing ever will" she blinked up at him in the darkness, "As much as you would like to deny it, you and your little brother look very similar. Especially to a sick girl whose trying to peer and see who's next to her bed."

Her hand came up and brushed his cheek. He whispered "You promise?" the relief was dripping off his tone, but he didn't care how weak he seemed. He was weak.

"I swear it." He closed his eyes and leaned into her touch. "Those dreams really made me miss you, you know?"

Slowly he opened his eyes and looked up at her. "You got them?"

"Constantly" she licked her lips "They made me want to sleep all day."

"I used your hairbrush"

"I know, Ron told me" she leaned down so their faces were close enough to brush noses again. "And he played your radio show. It's brilliant"

For possibly the first time in a half a year, his face formed a true Weasley twin smirk. "Thank you, it was my idea"

"Of course it was" the witch chuckled.

His eyes were drawn to the bandages once more. There was still no blood, but he had to ask "How did you get hurt?"

"Snatchers" he gulped. "They brought us to Malfoy Manor, and-" her voice caught "Bellatrix had to question someone"

His hands found her arm in the darkness and slowly brought her arm into his lap. "How badly does it hurt"

"A lot, but nothing like when she did it. Fluer must be in excellent healer."

"She had to take care of Bill those months after the Grayback incident" he reminded her "I believe she's learned quite a lot about healing magic"

Silence filled the room for a few minutes. Peace settled between the two like coffee grinds, as they stared at the bandages, like their gazes could make them go away. Finally, Hermione cut into the quiet.

"There's something under there" she whispered, her voice cracking, and it made him look up at her face.

"What do you mean love?" she looked like a piece of china, cracking. It hurt to watch as badly as if it were himself.

"She didn't just cut into my arm. She carved something there I know it."

That made him stare down at the bandages once more "Do you want to look it?"

"No-"

"Can I look at it then" he asked, trying to catch her eyes. "I'm sure whatever she did is nothing you can't handle, but I still want to help you with it"

Her gulp was audible, "I suppose someone has to see it eventually"

Fred's long fingers deftly found the end of her bandages and began unraveling them. She closed her eyes and allowed him to bring her arm into open air. It felt much better having it open, but it didn't make her want to see it any more.

"Its-" he stopped "I suppose to her it would be an insult"

She'd thought of that, but now it was confirmed in her mind. The witch allowed her eyes to open and tears fell from them onto the choppy letters on her arm. _Mudblood._

It was ugly and crude. She had thought she had gotten used to it years ago, but no it had come back to haunt her. She had sworn first year when she'd heard a slytherin mutter it as she passed and had to ask mcgonnigal what it meant that it would never hurt her. She had promised herself she would hear it with pride. After all it only meant magic had come to her, even when the majority of her genetics said it wouldn't.

Now however it hurt. Worse than the physical pain, it hurt her chest. She'd always told herself that the word didn't truly matter. Yet here she was staring down at it carved into her arm, realizing that this word and everything it stood for had caused a war. She was fighting for her life over this stupid word. Even if she survived this, even if Harry managed to win, she would have it embedded in her skin forever to remind her that others thought her blood was muddy, and nothing would ever change that.

Fred's hand curled around her bicep, right above the 'M'.

"Do you want me to rewrap it?"

Her head snapped up to look him in the eyes. "Does it bother you" she snapped, not meaning for it to come out so harsh, but not caring when it had.

"Hermione" he said slowly and her lip quivered in fear of his response "it's always been there, and it will never bother me, even if now it's just a little more noticeable."

Her eyes wandered back down to it. "It's ugly" Her voice cracked.

"It's a word, and it means nothing." He hissed "It means about as much blood traitor, or pureblood, or muggleborn. They don't say anything about us or out magic"

"But someone thought it was important enough to force onto my arm for the rest of my life"

"Someone who's been a known fanatic since she graduated Hogwarts" his brow was creased as he looked at her, like it caused him as much pain as it did to her- perhaps more. "Fanatics obsess over things that have no meaning, and no importance."

Hermione ran the tip of her finger over the cuts as he spoke "But that doesn't mean I'm not going to kill her"

She was a lot weaker than she had first seemed when Fred came to her room. She slept a lot, and had barely left her room. Fluer simply didn't have a spell that would make her feel like she had before. It was a bit frustrating, he wasn't used to seeing her like that.

They kept telling him to be patient and it was driving him mad. Shell cottage wasn't safe enough. There were wards, but they were about as strong as the ones at his apartment. They weren't blood wards, which meant if any death eater got the slightest idea where they were, the whole lot of them would be dead. She couldn't defend herself, and he wasn't sure how many death eaters he could handle. He needed to get her to the burrow. As soon as she was strong enough to apparate he had to take her.

Worse than that though, was when he was kicked out of her room. Harry and Ron were hardly speaking to anyone, and despite the bruised jaw he'd already given his little brother, Ronniekins wasn't telling him anything about what they were doing. They kept having hushed conversations on the beach, or coming to Hermione's room and telling him to leave so they could speak with her. Even his extendable ears wouldn't work to listen in on them.

Fred didn't know what he'd do if they tried to take her again. They wouldn't get away without him knowing. He hadn't left shell cottage since he laid his eyes on her again, and he'd hardly left her room. George had brought most of his clothes that he had in a pile on the bookcase, and he'd set up a cot next to her bed. She'd tried to convince him to sleep with her, but the bed was small and he was scared of crushing her when she was so fragile.

It took a week for her to get up on her own. Before he'd been helping her, and it had made him feel a little more useful. Now he wasn't sure what he could do for her.

They were sitting in her room, Hermione was reading through one of the strange books she refused to tell him about, when she spoke.

"Would you- would you help me take a bath?" He looked up at her surprised.

"You need my help?"

"I can walk downstairs now, but It makes me really tired, and I'm scared of falling in the tub." She spoke quietly, the way she had been all week. It was different, like she was nervous. He'd never known her to be nervous.

"Of course love," He pushed himself up on the bed and held out his hand.

"Now?"

"If you want." He wondered why he hadn't offered before. A person could only use cleaning spells for so long before they needed water to feel clean.

"Please" she took his hand.

Hermione had missed this. All the time she had spent without him had been torture, and now that she had him back again, she didn't how she'd be able to leave.

She was sitting on the toilet, watching him lean over the tub getting the water ready. He was only wearing a thin t-shirt, and a pair of shorts. The witch would be lying if she didn't admit that she liked the view. Some of the dreams he'd sent her went through her mind, and she bit her lip.

"I think it's ready" the wizard stood, and turned to her. "Put your arms up." She complied and he took hold of the chudly canons t-shirt and pulled it off her. Fred untied her pajama pants then, and she shivered as his hands brushed her stomach.

Slowly he peeled off the rest of her layers. Only when her second sock finally came off did the two look at her arm. She hadn't taken off the bandages since she had shown it to Fred, and really didn't want to do it again. Still, when he reached for the end of the wrapping she didn't stop him.

His thumb skinned down the cuts and he murmured "It looks a lot better"

"That doesn't mean it's going away" Fluer had already told her. The blade hadn't been normal. It was goblin made, and her scars would never fade away.

"No, but…" his voice trailed, and he sighed "You know I don't like saying this to you" he suddenly looked much more serious than he had ever before " but you know as well as I do that no one's leaving this war without some scars"

Her mind flashed to the image of George. She had almost forgotten about his ear until a few days prior. When he had shown up to bring Fred his clothes, Hermione couldn't help but be drawn to the stump on the side of his head.

Fred stood then and offered her two hands. She grasped them and allowed him to help her stand. Slowly she hobbled to the tub. He placed his hand on her bicept and she grasped the shower door to step in. The redhead grasped under her arms to make sure she lowered herself carefully, and Hermione hummed as her body entered the water. It felt much better than she had remembered. Every 'bath' she'd had in months had been two minutes in a cold river while Harry stood watch. This was so much better.

Long fingers pulled back her hair and she sighed, content.

"Are you okay"

"Better" he chuckled.

"Do you want me to wash your hair."

For a moment, it seemed too embarrassing to ask, but he had offered. Not to mention she loved the feel of his hands on her head. "Please"

Never before had she felt like washing her hair wasn't a chore. It was so thick and wild that she always had a hard time scrubbing at her skull, sometimes it took so long her arms would get tired. Having Fred do it was nothing like that. His fingers dug straight through the layers of hair and massaged the skin below. He took time to work the suds through her curls, and even had to use a warming spell on the water once or twice.

When he was finished rinsing out the conditioner Hermione opened her eyes. She didn't know when she had closed them, but wasn't surprised. The feeling had almost put her to sleep.

"Someone seemed to enjoy themselves?" Fred asked chuckling as she peered up at him.

"Am I that obvious?"

"I was talking about myself" he said grinning so hard his nose crinkled. "I sent all those dreams, but I never felt like I could picture you just right"

She leaned her head back and smirked madly up at him. "Oh, then I suppose you wouldn't mind washing the rest of me?"

The redhead leaned down to her face, and staring at her lips murmured "Not at all"

His breath tickled her skin he was so close, and suddenly she remembered sharply that this would only last a short while longer.

Every conversation she'd had with the boys all week had been about them leaving. As soon as she was well enough, they had to go. The three had concocted a plan that she personally thought was barking mad, but then she couldn't remember the last plan she'd had with Harry Potter that wasn't insane. Still, this was particularly deadly. She'd known since she was 11 when her family had gone into the wizarding bank for the first time, and she'd seen the silver doors warning everyone who came in that robbing Gringotts was a death wish. Hermione estimated that between the probability of anyone succeeding in robbing Gringotts, and Harry's usual dumb luck, that they had an 87% chance of dying.

Which just meant she had to make this last. Had to focus on every moment she had with him. They would likely be her last.

So she closed the gap between them and kissed him, praying to merlin to make this last a little longer.

AN: This chapter's a little longer, but it's also a little fluffy. It's basically the calm before the storm, so enjoy while it lasts.

Review please!

Love Mel


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